A thread of thoughts about why #COVID19 is so remarkable having studied #globalhealthsecurity and politics of health emergencies for several years - almost every element could and has been predicted #COVID #covid19UK (1/11) :
Academics have thought that a major outbreak would emerge in China, and this would be challenged by tensions over veracity of Chinese data (the memory of #SARS not easily forgotten) tandfonline.com (2/11)
The declaration of #PHEIC by @WHO is always constrained by politics - this time, delay, and #PHEIC absolutely not about Chinese response (hello member state politics) - read @adamkams tandfonline.com or @MarkRTurner gh.bmj.com (3/11)
Despite @WHO not recommending travel restrictions, governments ignore these and resort to protectionist politics to protect their own domestic politics /trade/citizens and to demonstrate output legitimacy to electorate - read @CatWorsnop link.springer.com (4/11)
That outbreaks cause economic disruption is well evidenced, as is the failure of current financing mechanisms for outbreak preparedness / response: see @GYamey thelancet.com and @felixundstein @devisridhar bmj.com (5/11)
Perhaps most surprising, is how quickly we've seen indications of societal breakdown related to outbreaks caused by #COVID19 - looting of hospitals in France for hand sanitiser and #toiletpapergate - disruption noted by McInnes + @profplum8 bit.ly (6/11)
Previous outbreaks demonstrate distortion of local health services, as seen in China for #COVID19 - and likely to be seen elsewhere, as health systems become overwhelmed: see @LauraSochas academic.oup.com (7/11)
Human rights sidelined in #COVID19 - the quarantining whole cities and those not affected need to be considered - this has been flagged before by @DaviesSaraE academic.oup.com and @alexandraphelan @RebeccaKatz5 @LawrenceGostin ja.ma (8/11)
Women and other marginalised groups sidelined in #COVID19 as have been in other outbreaks and policy as @DrSophieHarman discussed for Ebola tandfonline.com and @juliaheather tandfonline.com (9/11)
And... the inevitable "send in the military" is now starting to occur in Iran, China, South Korea.... as per @joshmich sciencedirect.com and @adamkams journals.sagepub.com (10/11)
It's almost like we knew what was going to happen when an outbreak emerged; and no one listed, or listened and failed to act? #academicimpact (11/11)
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