The United States public health services failure to control the coronavirus epidemic

Eduardo J Simoes; Jeannette Jackson-Thompson

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102090

The United States public health services failure to control the coronavirus epidemic

Prev Med Rep. 2023 Feb:31:102090. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102090. Epub 2022 Dec 6.

Authors

Eduardo J Simoes¹, Jeannette Jackson-Thompson¹

Affiliation

¹ University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine Department of Health Management and Informatics and MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics, United States.

Abstract

The unprecedented COVID-19 epidemic in the United States (US) and worldwide, caused by a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), occurred mostly because of higher-than-expected transmission speed and degree of virulence compared with previous respiratory virus outbreaks, especially earlier Coronaviruses with person-to-person transmission (e.g., MERS, SARS). The epidemic's size and duration, however, are mostly a function of failure of public health systems to prevent/control the epidemic. In the US, this failure was due to historical disinvestment in public health services, key players equivocating on decisions, and political interference in public health actions. In this communication, we present a summary of these failures, discuss root causes, and make recommendations for improvement with focus on public health decisions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Control; Epidemic; Health; Prevention; Public.

Publication types

Review