Assessing Legal Responses to COVID-19
50 Top Legal Experts Find U.S. Policy Response to COVID-19 Dangerously Lacking, Recommend Steps to Safeguard Health, Civil and Human Rights
NEW: Read the updated report, COVID-19 Policy Playbook: Legal Recommendations for a Safer, More Equitable Future.
In August 2020, as the nation continued to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which had resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a severe economic recession, 50 top national experts offered an assessment of the U.S. policy response to the crisis. The research details the widespread failure of the country’s leadership in planning and executing a cohesive, national response, and how the crisis exposed weaknesses in the nation’s health care and public health systems. In Assessing Legal Responses to COVID-19, the authors also offer recommendations on how federal, state and local leaders can better respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics.
Sponsored by the de Beaumont Foundation and the American Public Health Association, the report was produced by Public Health Law Watch in cooperation with the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law, the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University, Wayne State University Law School, the Hall Center for Law and Health, the Network for Public Health Law and ChangeLab Solutions.
Click above to read the full report or see the summary and individual chapters below.
Media Contact: Liz Voyles, Brass Ring Communications, liz@brassrc.com (202) 297-9641
Topics and Authors
Click the titles below to go directly to the summary, recommendations for each section, and individual chapters.
Summary of Findings and Recommendations for Action - Editorial Committee: Scott Burris, JD, Temple University Beasley School of Law; Sarah de Guia, JD, ChangeLab Solutions; Lance Gable, JD, MPH, Wayne State University Law School; Donna Levin, JD, Network for Public Health Law; Wendy E. Parmet, JD, Northeastern University School of Law; Nicolas P. Terry, LLM, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Part I: Using Government Powers to Control the Pandemic
Summary of Part I Recommendations
Chapter 1: A Chronological Overview of the Federal, State, and Local Response to COVID-19 - Lindsay K. Cloud, JD, Katie Moran-McCabe, JD, Elizabeth Platt, JD, MA, Nadya Prood, MPH, Temple University Beasley School of Law, Center for Public Health Law Research
Chapter 2: Is Law Working? A Brief Look at the Legal Epidemiology of COVID-19 - Evan Anderson, JD, PhD., University of Pennsylvania; Scott Burris, JD, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Chapter 3: Contact Tracing, Intrastate and Interstate Quarantine, and Isolation - Ross D. Silverman, JD, MPH, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Chapter 4: Mass Movement, Business and Property Control Measures - Lance Gable, JD, MPH, Wayne State University Law School
Chapter 5: Surveillance, Privacy, and App Tracking - Jennifer D. Oliva, JD, MBA, Seton Hall University School of Law
Chapter 6: Conducting Elections During a Pandemic - David J. Becker, JD, The Center for Election Innovation and Research
Part II: Fulfilling Governmental Responsibility in a Federal System
Summary of Part II Recommendations
Chapter 7: Executive Decision Making for COVID-19: Public Health Science Through a Political Lens - Peter D. Jacobson, JD, MPH, University of Michigan; Denise Chrysler, JD, The Network for Public Health Law; and Jessica Bresler, JD, Northeastern University
Chapter 8: Federalism in Pandemic Prevention and Response - Lindsay F. Wiley, JD, MPH, American University Washington College of Law
Chapter 9: Preemption, Public Health, and Equity in the Time of COVID-19 - Kim Haddow, BA, Local Solutions Support Center; Derek Carr, JD, ChangeLab Solutions; Benjamin D. Winig, JD, MPA, ThinkForward Strategies; and Sabrina Adler, JD, ChangeLab Solutions
Chapter 10: Upholding Tribal Sovereignty and Promoting Tribal Public Health Capacity During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Aila Hoss, JD, University of Tulsa College of Law; and Heather Tanana, JD, MPH, The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Chapter 11: U.S. Withdrawal From the World Health Organization: Unconstitutional and Unhealthy - Sarah Wetter, JD, MPH, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center; and Eric A. Friedman, JD, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Part III: Financing and Delivering Health Care
Summary of Part III Recommendations
Chapter 12: Private Insurance Limits and Responses - Elizabeth Weeks, JD, University of Georgia School of Law
Chapter 13: Medicaid’s Vital Role in Addressing Health and Economic Emergencies - Nicole Huberfeld, JD, Boston University School of Public Health and School of Law; and Sidney Watson, JD, Saint Louis University Law School
Chapter 14: Caring for the Uninsured in a Pandemic Era - Sara Rosenbaum, JD, George Washington University; and Morgan Handley, JD, George Washington University
Chapter 15: Assuring Access to Abortion - Rachel Rebouché, JD, LLM, Temple University, Beasley School of Law
Chapter 16: Telehealth in the COVID-19 Pandemic - Cason D. Schmit, JD, Johnathan Schwitzer; Kevin Survance; Megan Barbre; Yeka Nmadu, MBBS; and Carly McCord, PhD, Texas A&M University
Chapter 17: Access to Treatment for Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder - Corey S. Davis, JD, MSPH, Harm Reduction Legal Project, Network for Public Health Law; and Amy Judd Lieberman, JD, Harm Reduction Legal Project, Network for Public Health Law
Chapter 18: Legal Strategies for Promoting Mental Health and WellBeing in the COVID-19 Pandemic - Jill Krueger, JD, Network for Public Health Law−Northern Region
Chapter 19: Implementation and Enforcement of Quality and Safety in Long-Term Care - Tara Sklar, JD, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
Part IV: Assuring Access to Medicines and Medical Supplies
Summary of Part IV Recommendations
Chapter 20: COVID-19: State and Local Responses to PPE Shortages - Michael S. Sinha, MD, JD, MPH, Harvard Medical School Harvard-MIT Center for Regulatory Science
Chapter 21: Expanding Access to Patents for COVID-19 - Jorge L. Contreras, JD, University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law; Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine
Chapter 22: Drug and Vaccine Development and Access - Patricia J. Zettler, JD, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and The James Comprehensive Cancer Center; Micah L. Berman, JD, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, Moritz College of Law, and The James Comprehensive Cancer Center; Efthimios Parasidis, JD, MBE, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and College of Public Health
Chapter 23: Assuring Essential Medical Supplies During a Pandemic - Using Federal Law to Measure Need, Stimulate Production, and Coordinate Distribution - Evan Anderson, JD, PhD., University of Pennsylvania; and Scott Burris, JD, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Chapter 24: Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources and Crisis Standards of Care - Lance Gable, JD, MPH, Wayne State University Law School
Part V: Protecting Workers and Families
Summary of Part V Recommendations
Chapter 25: A Pandemic Meets a Housing Crisis - Courtney Lauren Anderson, JD, LLM, Georgia State University College of Law
Chapter 26: Protecting Workers that Provide Essential Services - Ruqaiijah Yearby, JD, MPH, Saint Louis University School of Law
Chapter 27: Liability and Liability Shields - Nicolas P. Terry, LLM, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Chapter 28: Protecting Workers’ Jobs and Income During COVID-19 - Sharon Terman, JD, Legal Aid at Work
Chapter 29: Using SNAP to Address Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Mathew Swinburne, JD, Network for Public Health Law−Eastern Region
Part VI: Taking on Disparities and Protecting Equal Rights
Summary of Part VI Recommendations
Chapter 30: COVID-19 Illustrates Need to Close the Digital Divide - Betsy Lawton, JD, Network for Public Health Law−Northern Region
Chapter 31: COVID-19, Incarceration & the Criminal Legal System - Jessica Bresler, JD, Northeastern University School of Law; and Leo Beletsky, MPH, JD, Northeastern University School of Law and Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Chapter 32: Supporting LGBT Communities in the COVID Pandemic - Craig J. Konnoth, M.Phil., JD, University of Colorado School of Law
Chapter 33: Immigration Law’s Adverse Impact on COVID-19 - Wendy E. Parmet, JD, Northeastern University School of Law
Chapter 34: Protecting the Rights of People with Disabilities - Elizabeth Pendo, JD, Saint Louis University School of Law
Chapter 35: Fostering the Civil Rights of Health - Angela Harris, JD, UC Davis School of Law; and Aysha Pamukcu, JD, Founder, Movement Praxis
Closing Reflection: The Endless Looping of Public Health and Scientific Racism - Patricia J. Williams, JD, Northeastern University School of Law
Key Findings
Expert assessments in the report show that our country's failure in COVID-19 response in many ways has been a legal failure. Key findings include:
Ample legal authority has not been properly used in practice – evidence shows a massive failure of executive leadership and implementation at the federal level, and in many states and localities.
Decades of pandemic preparation overemphasized documenting plans and failed to account for how severe budget cuts to public health, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to state and local health departments, would drive outcomes. These budget cuts were combined with political interference that had a deleterious effect on the operational readiness of the nation’s local, state and federal health agencies.
Legal responses have failed to prevent racial and economic disparities in the pandemic’s toll, and in some cases aggravated them.