The Editor’s Podcast: The Public Health Challenge of Our Era, COVID-19
by Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH
The Editor’s Podcast with Dr. Lloyd F. Novick appears with each new issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and offers a closer look at the articles published in the latest issues with guest appearances by authors, guest editors, and others.
This episode of the Editor’s Podcast highlights articles appearing in the July 2020 issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, which focuses on COVID-19 and some of the challenges the pandemic has brought to bear on public health and our public health system. One of several important commentaries in this issue looks at clinical versus public health ethics. While much has been said about the difficulty of deciding which patients receive our limited clinical resources such as ventilators and hospital beds, we must also consider how we balance our community resources. For example, to mitigate COVID-19, we need to use social distancing and wear face coverings, but how do we balance that with respecting individual liberty? And, when a vaccine does become available, how do we prioritize which groups receive it? Important scientific articles in this issue include two from China, one from mainland China and one from Shanghai, which report measures taken in that country to contain the pandemic. Another study looks at CPIP scenarios to determine the “true” underlying infection rate of children in the US, which has been underreported by the media. Another looks at the feasibility of social distancing practices in US schools to reduce Influenza transmission during a pandemic. The findings of that study suggest that schools have many options to increase social distance other than closing, lessons that may be useful during the present crisis. Another commentary highlights the exacerbated burden of COVID-19 and its aftermath on the elderly, the chronically ill, communities of color, rural communities, and other populations that are disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. The authors outline a number of actions that local and state health departments can take to help mitigate the crosscutting consequences of worsening social determinants of health. Another study in this issue looks at the relationship between COVID-19 and indoor plumbing, English-speaking households, and overcrowded houses on American Indian reservations.
Learn more about these and other articles in our podcast below.
Other Important Articles in this Issue:
- Should Public Health Literacy Be a Core Requirement for College Students?
- Readying for a Post–COVID-19 World: The Case for Concurrent Pandemic Disaster Response and Recovery Efforts in Public Health
- We Can Choose NOT to Fail
- Firearm Industry Groups Are Using COVID-19 to Expand Gun Rights
- Building Informatics Capacity of Local Health Departments to Combat COVID-19: A Call to Action
- Distributing Local Resources for Public Health Preparedness Grants: A Data-Driven Approach
- Estimating Childhood Obesity Prevalence in Communities Through Multi-institutional Data Sharing
- Changes in Sugary Beverage Consumption and Public Perceptions in Upstate New York After Implementation of a Community Awareness Campaign and Healthier Vending Strategies
- An Assessment of Food Store Compliance With the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax
- Why Some Walk and Others Don’t: Neighborhood Safety and the Sociodemographic Variation Effect on Walking for Leisure and Transportation
- Incentivizing Healthy Snacks During Out-of-School Time Through Grocery Store Partnerships
- System Support Mapping: A Novel Systems Thinking Tool Applied to Assess the Needs of Maternal and Child Health Title V Professionals and Their Partners
- Thoughts on Adaptive Leadership in a Challenging Time
- Leading in the COVID-19 Crisis: Challenges and Solutions for State Health Leaders
- Building Local Health Department COVID-19 Emergency and Risk Communications Capacity
- Supporting Organizational Workflow in Times of Crisis
- Understanding the Dynamics of Diversity in the Public Health Workforce
- Educational Attainment and Characteristics of Leaders of Schools of Public Health and State Health Departments
Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University. Previously, he was chair of this Department. He has served as the Commissioner of Health and Secretary for Human Services of Vermont, Director of Health Services for Arizona, and Director of the Office of Public Health for New York State. Previous academic positions include Professor and Director of the Preventive Medicine Program for SUNY Upstate Medical University, Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at the University of Albany School of Public Health, and Clinical Professor and Director of the Teaching Program in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine. He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. [Full bio]