Description

This reader offers some of the most important writing to date from the science of COVID-19 and what science says about its spread and social implications. The readings have been carefully selected, introduced, and interpreted for an introductory or graduate student readership by a distinguished medical sociology and political science team. While some of the early science was inaccurate, lacking sufficient data, or otherwise incomplete, the author team has selected the most important and reliable early work for teachers and students in courses on medical sociology, public health, nursing, infectious diseases, epidemiology, anthropology of medicine, sociology of health and illness, social aspects of medicine, comparative health systems, health policy and management, health behaviors, and community health. Global in scope, the book tells the story of what happened and how COVID-19 was dealt with. Much of this material is in clinical journals, normally not considered in the social sciences, which are nonetheless informative and authoritative for student and faculty readers. Their selection and interpretation for students makes this concise reader an essential teaching source about COVID-19. An accompanying online resource on the book’s Routledge web page will update and evolve by providing links to new readings as the science develops.
 
Table of Contents
Contents
Part I. Introduction
Preparing for the Next Pandemic
Michael T. Osterholm
Identifying Airborne Transmission as the Dominant Route for the Spread of COVID-19
Renyi Zhang, Yixin Li, Annie L. Zhangc, Yuan Wang and Mario J. Molina
Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19
Monica Gandhi, Deborah S. Yokoe and Diane V. Havlir
 
Part II. The Origin in China
4. Pangolins Harbor SARS-CoV-2-Related Coronaviruses
Guan-Zhu Han
The Epidemiological and Clinical Features of COVID-19 and Lessons from this Global Infectious Public Health Event
Huilan Tu, Sheng Tu, Shiqi Gao, Anwen Shao and Jifang Sheng
Authoritarianism, Outbreaks, and Information Politics
Matthew Kavanagh
China’s Diplomacy and Changing the COVID-19 Narrative
Raj Verma
 
Part III. Europe
First Cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020
Gianfranco Spiteri, James Fielding, Michaela Diercke et al.
Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Mortality: Are Comorbidities to Blame?
Krithi Ravi
Nudges Against Pandemics: Sweden’s COVID-19 Containment Strategy in Perspective
Jon Pierre
Herd immunity or suppression strategy to combat COVID-19
F. Jung, V. Krieger, F.T. Hufert, and J.-H. Kupper
 
Part IV. United States and Canada
Public Health Response to the Initiation and Spread of Pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24–April 21, 2020
Anne Schuchat
Characteristics of Persons Who Died with COVID-19 — United States, February 12–May 18, 2020
Jonathan M. Wortham et al.
States Divided: The Implications of American Federalism for COVID-19
Donald F. Kettl
Shelter-In-Place Orders Reduced COVID-19 Mortality and Reduced The Rate Of Growth In Hospitalizations
Wei Lyu and George L. Wehby
Strong Social Distancing Measures in the United States Reduced the COVID-19 Growth Rate
Charles Courtemanche, Joseph Garuccio, Anh Le, Joshua Pinkston, and Aaron Yelowitz
Understanding COVID-19 Risks and Vulnerabilities among Black Communities in America: The Lethal Force of Syndemics
Tonia Poteat, Gregorio A. Millett, LaRon E. Nelson and Chris Beyrer
Early Signs Indicate That COVID-19 is Exacerbating Gender Inequality in the Labor Force
Linda Christin Lanivar et al.
Visualizing the Geographic and Demographic Distribution of COVID-19
Patrick Denice et al.
 
Part V. Latin America and Africa
In the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil, Do Brown Lives Matter?”
Helena Ribeiro, Viviana Mendes Lima and Eliseu Alves Waldman
The Colliding Epidemics of COVID-19, Ebola, and Measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jean B Nachega, Placide Mbala-Kingebeni, John Otshudiema, Alimuddin Zumla, Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tam-Fum
Africa in the Path of Covid-19
Wafaa M. El-Sadr and Jessica Justman
 
Part VI. Resolution
Why do countries respond differently to COVID-19? A comparative study of Sweden, China, France, and Japan by
Bo Yan, Xiaomin Zhang, Long Wu, Heng Zhu, and Bin Chen
How Pandemics End
Gina Kolata