This essay in The Regulatory Review examines the legacy of the US Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Author Scott Burris contends that the vision set by Jacobson — one of coexistence and cooperation in a democratic commonwealth — is in jeopardy as courts in recent COVID-19 constitutional cases have unveiled a new view based less on the social contract than on a strong form of libertarianism.
Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania
Alexander Wagenaar, PhD •
University of Florida
In this commentary for the New England Journal of Medicine, Scott Burris, Evan Anderson, and Alexander Wagenaar draw attention to the chronic underfunding and neglect of legal epidemiology, which is essential to bolstering the use of law and policy as an intervention to improve health. The authors call for the scale-up of the infrastructure for at least three kinds of research: study of the mechanisms, effects, side effects and implementation of laws designed to influence health, such as COVID control measures; research on how the legal infrastructure of the U.S.
As the United States marks one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than 500,000 deaths so far and a historic economic recession, 50 top legal experts have convened to offer a new assessment of the U.S. policy response to the crisis in the COVID-19 Policy Playbook: Legal Recommendations for a Safer, More Equitable Future.
This map presents state-level statutes and regulations that regulate earned sick leave laws in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as of January 1, 2021. Specifically, the map identifies whether earned sick leave is regulated by state law, the probationary period an employer may impose before allowing an employee to use leave, the rate of accrual, the limit an employer may place on the use and accrual of leave, and under which circumstances leave may be used by an employee.
This report offers policy recommendations on 35 wide-ranging topics from 50 national experts, from pandemic preparedness and health care to conducting sound elections and adapting immigration policy. Designed to advise leaders at the federal, state and local level, the report presents a timely examination of policy challenges and opportunities in light of the pandemic.
Tables on LawAtlas.org catalog resources tracking emergency declarations, mitigation policies, and other topic-specific resources available at every jurisdictional level related to the response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The Problem: Widespread vaccine coverage for preventable disease is an essential public health goal Healthy People 2020 Low vaccine coverage rates enable otherwise avoidable outbreaks of harmful diseases. CDC: Vaccines and Immunizations. Clinicians tend to acute and chronic conditions before preventive considerations, resulting in lack of time for vaccinations.
This project comprises four legal maps, each featuring laws in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Switzerland, capturing a detailed view of the implementation of Article 2 of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) IHR(2005), to prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease. The IHR(2005) is a binding instrument of international law for 194 WHO member states aimed at preventing, protecting, controlling, and responding to the international spread of disease.
A pandemic due to a rapidly transmissible infectious agent has always been a major threat to humanity, and recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika have heightened interest in ensuring that governments are prepared to respond to this threat. Governance – the assignment of authority and the specification of procedures – is a central pillar of effective pandemic management. Without sound rules in place, ad hoc measures risk being ineffective or unjust, failing to respect human rights and worsening the impact of an outbreak.
