What We Can Learn from a COVID-19 Spring: Government Response and Accountability II
This week in the US, Congress meets to hopefully pass a stimulus package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last stimulus bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which included cash payments, forgivable loans for small businesses, and expanded unemployment benefits, passed in late March. Almost 10 months later, with unemployment rates rising and provisions in the CARES Act soon expiring, pressure mounts in Washington. If nothing passes, who will be held accountable?
Colleen Flood and Vanessa MacDonnell tackle issues of Canadian and global accountability in the edited volume Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19. Vanessa explains how the courts and media play a role in holding the government responsible for pandemic-related legislation (or lack thereof). Colleen explains the successes and failures of Canada’s cooperative federalism approach to COVID. In some cases, the marble-cake technique might be a better option; First Nations in Canada used self-determination to enact policies better suited to their needs as a vulnerable population. However, Colleen argues, it has also led to disarray, confusion, and scrambled lines of communication across provincial lines.
In the second episode of this four-part series, Colleen and Vanessa highlight the significant difference between investments in public health and health care, which perhaps foretold the unprepared responses to the pandemic across the globe. “If you’ve done a good job investing in public health,” Colleen states, “people don’t even know that they should be thanking you.” They also look ahead and predict the future of vaccine deployment. Who will get it first? Is a national or provincial rollout more likely? And how will governments strengthen public trust in the vaccine?
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