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Peer Review of Assignment 3: Background
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Page 1 of 1
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Background
Jana El Bakri
HAP 465-DL1
Professor Brathwaite
October 1, 2023
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There have been over a hundred pandemics throughout history including the Black Death,
Spanish Flu, Ebola, and most recently Covid-19. With the rise of pandemics each country has
implemented their own public health initiatives to respond and protect their populations. With that,
the United States has their own public health guidelines that effect their populations. Within those
guidelines, State government play a huge role in pandemic response and protection of those that
reside within their states. With each pandemic and public health crises, state government work to
tailor a detailed response that improves their populations health. Essentially, the role of state
governments entails detecting and responding to pandemics by implementing counter measures to
mitigate the human, social, and economic consequences of the pandemic (Dzigbede et al., 2020).
This ensures multiple roles of safety and interventions to protect their communities and keep their
population healthy. Furthermore, state government monitor populations through a surveillance
system that consists of identifying individuals and groups that have conditions of public health
importance with testing, reporting, and partner notification (The future of the public’s health in the
21st century, 2003, p.102). State government interventions have changed throughout the years
based on the advancement of technology and diseases.
In the past, state governments were not as involved in public health initiatives as one might
believe. Their involvement began in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the start of
the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia back in 1793. The initial response from governments
was instituting quarantine measures to improve community sanitation that were directed by
physicians appointed by state governments (Altman & Morgan, 1983). There were no state health
departments to respond to pandemics up until the publication of the Shattuck Report by the
Massachusetts Sanitary Commission in 1850. This report introduced the idea of establishing state
health departments and local boards of health. Nineteen years after the report was published,
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Massachusetts established the first sate bord of health. With the establishment of new state health
departments, they became the essential communicator and guider to public health initiatives. The
Minnesota State Department was the first to employ and epidemiologist in 1949 then a year later
they established their division of epidemiology (Altman & Morgan, 1983).
Back in 1918, the Spanish Influenza challenged the United States and became a teaching
moment for future pandemics. It was a new experience for health departments and the
administration of their public health initiatives. One of the main challenges that came with the
Spanish Flu was difficulty in administrating bans on public gatherings and quarantine guidelines.
Although public health authorities faced difficulties through this pandemic, it also led to positive
outcomes. With the advancement of scientific research, it illuminated and expanded the public
health movement in 1918 (Tomes, 2010). By that time a path towards a stronger government
provided city and state health departments with laws and regulations to manage outbreaks of
infectious disease. There were different measures enacted to reduce the spread of the Spanish Flu
such as the importance of personal hygiene, overcrowding-prevention, and sanitation laws.
Furthermore, the spread of the disease was slowed by identifying suspicious cases through
surveillance and quarantine efforts. Health departments utilized all the resources they had to stop
the spread by calling back retired nurses to aid with the pandemics (Pustake et al., 2022). Overall,
focusing on improving the populations wellbeing.
In recent events, the world experiences the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 which had a few
similarities with the Spanish Flu. With Covid-19, state governments played a crucial part in
protecting their communities and utilizing al resources available to then. After the U.S. Federal
Government declaring a public health emergency on January 27, 2020, all levels of government
rushed to work together to ensure public safety. Governors in all 50 states activated U.S. Army
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and Air National Guards to provide a wide range of resources such as staffing statewide call centers
and supplying mask and test kits across states. Furthermore, governess have also issued executive
orders such as allocation and inventory of personal protective equipment, management of utilities,
and emergency protocols for education, employment, elections, natural resources, public safety,
and many others. They also partnered with neighboring states to implement and coordinate
strategies to protect populations and the economy (Dzigbede et al., 2020).
Each state health department worked to ensure their public’s safety by enforcing rules
and regulations. Ohio’s state department set out a quarantine order that required people to stay at
home unless engaged in essential work or activities. Arizona’s legislature established the Crisis
Contingency and Safety Net Fund to provide money for the general population. By establishing
this act, it was able to provide funding for housing, small businesses, and food bank operations.
Montana declared a state of emergency which provided the governor with power to direct a
statewide response to the outbreak (United States: federal and state executive responses to
COVID-19, 2020). Furthermore, states adopted new legislations that allowed expansion of
medical professionals who could administer the Covid-19 vaccine which allowed more
professionals to be available when vaccinations were being distributed (Postell, 2022). Each state
responded different to the Covid-19 pandemic according to what their states need. Throughout
history, states have played a vital role in public health initiatives and pandemic response.
Therefore, ensuring protection of their communities and the public health.
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References
Altman, D., & Morgan, D. H. (1983). The Role of State and Local Government In Health. Health
Affairs, 2(4), 7–31. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2.4.7
Dzigbede, K. D., Gehl, S. B., & Willoughby, K. G. (2020). Disaster Resiliency of U.S. Local
Governments: Insights to Strengthen Local Response and Recovery from the COVID‐19
Pandemic. Public Administration Review, 80(4), 634–643.
https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13249
Institute, O. M., Board, O. H. P. A. D., & Committee, O. A. T. H. O. (2003). The future of the
public’s health in the 21st century. National Academies Press.
Postell. (2022). EMERGENCY POWERS AND STATE LEGISLATIVE CAPACITY DURING
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, 15(3), 628–.
Pustake, M., Tambolkar, S., Giri, P. A., & Tambolkar, I. (2022). Comparison of public health
measures taken during Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics: A Narrative Review.
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 11(5), 1642.
https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1612_21
Tomes, N. (2010). “Destroyer and Teacher”: Managing the Masses during the 1918–1919
Influenza Pandemic. Public Health Reports, 125(3_suppl), 48–62.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549101250s308
United States: federal and state executive responses to COVID-19. (2020). The Law
Library of Congress, Global Research Directorate.
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