Another pandemic is coming. We need to identify the lessons learned from our successes and failures during the COVID-19 pandemic to plan better for our future response.
In Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak, David C. Pate, MD, JD, and Ted Epperly, MD, combine their decades of experience as doctors and health care leaders who have led their organizations through numerous public health challenges to create an extensive list of practical recommendations for a variety of organizations and agencies to better prepare for the next pandemic. They worked together in the fight against COVID-19 and the misinformation that devastated so many communities across the country. From the exam room to the public health board meeting room to the state capitol, Pate and Epperly use their expertise to craft 117 specific recommendations that organizations and governments can implement now in order to better prepare for the future. They divide these recommendations into checklists specific to different contexts: schools, hospitals, public health agencies, state governments, and the federal government. Public health officials, medical practitioners, state and local officials, school board members, disaster management leaders, and anyone with a stake in preparing their communities against future outbreaks will benefit from the recommendations Pate and Epperly outline.