Focused Discussions (Asynchronous Session)
The Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020: Lessons for the United States Healthcare System View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Anthony Zacharek
The U.S. healthcare system has learned many important lessons from the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. This public health threat has highlighted many strengths of the U.S. healthcare system, but it has also exposed several weaknesses where opportunities for improvement exist. Five important lessons for the U.S. healthcare system from the 2020 pandemic include the following – the need to understand the pandemic based on science and data, the need for scarce resource allocation guidelines that are ready to use, the need for effective treatments, policy can help mitigate the challenges from the pandemic, and collaboration is needed at all levels of healthcare and government. These lessons can be applied to this ongoing crisis but will require the input and teamwork of all stakeholders for this pandemic to be successfully overcome. These lessons also represent a foundation upon which the U.S. healthcare system can build in responding to any future public health crisis.
Post-pandemic Pedagogy: Identifying New Concepts through Cases View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Nancy Wright
The experience of very few or no cases of COVID-19 due to geographic isolation and the rapid and effective response to the pandemic of some countries lacking wealth and substantial health care infrastructures suggests the need to re-appraisal conventional perspectives regarding sovereignty, autonomy, and agency in international relations and comparative politics pedagogy. A number of small, seemingly globally insignificant countries have to date survived the pandemic with fewer losses than their more prominent counterparts. At the same time, the combination of COVID-19, climate change, and challenges to the Liberal International Order signal potential change in these countries as well. This focused discussion presents a series of countries as cases fo introducing new ways to teach and understand international relations and comparative politics.
