3 Things We Could Have In Place Before the Next Pandemic

Besides protective equipment, a response plan, and competent leadership

Yes, there will be a next pandemic

That should be the number one lesson we absorb from our present situation. Most of us knew, in a kind of wan, theoretical way, that a new disease could erupt at any time and spread throughout the globe with jaw-dropping speed; epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists in the public health realm have been warning about this for decades, Cassandra-like.

But now we’re here, and now we get it. For all our planet-dominating, technological and engineering cleverness, our accumulation of cities and cultures, and the pulsing, time-and-space-warping webs of connection and communication among them, we are exquisitely vulnerable. Ironically, it’s those very strengths as a species that render us so fragile when faced with an invisible, microscopic new pathogen.

One wee, emergent germ can bring the whole thing to a screeching halt. We know that now, and we can’t un-know it. Except for a very fringey, denier-minded few of us, we understand that this — or another version of this, possibly even more dire —not only can happen again, it will.

But this is not about coulda, shoulda, woulda

There is plenty of discussion about that already, among people with a great deal of expertise and informed opinion regarding what went wrong and what opportunities were missed back in January 2020 — or even November and December 2019.

Nor is this about the more obvious areas in which we’ve learned we must never again be caught short, such as abundant stores of PPEs and critical medical equipment, or a well-considered and well-coordinated response plan in place — not to mention someone capable in charge.

This is about social policy going forward, and how it could help protect us the next time some novel disease is unleashed on our world. In particular, three proposals that have been discussed at length, especially in the run-up to the Democratic primaries in the U.S. — which, at first glance, may seem to have little to do with responding to a pandemic.

1. Universal Basic Income

The concept of a guaranteed basic income — provided to all adults regardless of other income and without the burden of means-testing — is nothing new: it’s actually been floated for centuries beginning with Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. But it has gained more traction in recent years in the U.S., especially with its main proponent in the Democratic primaries, Andrew Yang.

It’s an idea that would seem to invite hostility from conservatives, but in the wake of the coronavirus, some Republican legislators are warming up to it, at least to a degree. And those who, like Andrew Yang, promote it wholeheartedly point out its potential benefits:

• It would support those who provide beneficial work but who are generally underpaid or who go unpaid, such as parents who stay at home with young children, or those who are the main caregivers for the elderly or disabled.
• It would provide an incentive for fledgling entrepenuers, who’d be able to use their guaranteed income to keep themselves afloat while launching their innovations.
• It would provide protection for workers who are displaced by automation and AI — this is one of Yang’s primary reasons for supporting UBI, as he sees this trend as a major threat to many Americans’ economic futures.
• It would offer an incentive to work — which may seem counterintuitive, but since UBI would avoid the pitfalls of means-testing, it would also eliminate one of the pernicious snags of the poverty trap, in which those receiving public assistance are reluctant to take employment that doesn’t pay enough to support them but is enough to reduce their assistance payments.
• It would provide public health benefits: anything that reduces poverty and homelessness will also result in a reduction of associated health problems such as diabetes II and high blood pressure.
• It would provide built-in support for those who lose their outside income in times of crisis — such as this one. As much as many Republic senators recoil at the thought, with over 33 million people thrown out of work, the $1200 one-time payments received by many Americans last month will need to be repeated, in one form or another. One could get deep into the weeds as to what amount would be sufficient to keep people above the poverty line, but if something like this were an ongoing program, many of us — and therefore, the economy — would be far better able to absorb the blow.

2. Universal Paid Sick Leave

Alone out of developed, Western nations, the U.S. has no federally mandated paid sick leave policy. While employees in higher earnings brackets are very likely to have coverage for sick days, those in lower-paying positions are far less likely to be able to take time off work without losing income.

According to a Pew Research Center paper published in March 2020, close to 25% of U.S. workers have no paid sick days — but if you’re in the top quarter of income earners (meaning you make at least $32 and change per hour), your chances of such coverage rise to 91%, whereas if you earn $13.80 per hour or less, your chances drop to 31%.

That leaves well over 33 million employed Americans without access to paid sick days — and they tend to be the workers who can least afford to lose income. And since a high proportion of these employees work in what are deemed essential industries such as food service, agriculture, and home health care, the public health impact is grim.

If you or your child is ill but staying home means you can’t pay the rent or put food on the table, you’re under brutal pressure to ignore your symptoms or simply gut it out at work — and, regretfully, expose your coworkers and often the public to whatever is making you sick.

Pressure is growing to institute a federal paid sick leave policy that would remain in place after the current Family First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) expires. This should be a nonpartisan issue, given the clear need for such a measure and the fact that every other nation with which the U.S. would wish to be compared already has some form of mandated paid sick leave in place.

3. Universal Health Care

There has never been a time such as this one to underscore what health care advocates, including the World Health Organization, have been saying for years: health care is a human right.

So much has been written and discussed on this topic that ranges far beyond the scope of this article. But if there is hope to be gleaned from our current crisis, it is the pandemic’s potential to dismantle some of the obstacles that have long been in the way of Americans having equitable access to health care.

It should be obvious that we have an urgent need to move forward in making sure every American can get decent health care regardless of their income or other status. And yet, the Trump administration has recently vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite the pandemic. If we want to survive this crisis and the crises to come, we must stop regarding health as a partisan issue.

What if we’d had all three of these in place before COVID-19?

Would these policies have stopped the virus in its tracks, or prevented the shutdown of most of life as we know it? Of course not.

But they would have made us a great deal more resilient. They could have relieved a lot of suffering. They could even have saved lives.

With the presidential election only six months away, we have not just our immediate survival but our long-term futures to consider. We know we’ll never be able to fully return to the “old normal.”

What if we use this chance to create a fairer, more just, and better new normal?