There’s been a troubling lack of consistency in messaging and policy from Washington and that helps to sow the seeds of rumors,” Professor Wendy Parmet tells Mother Jones. “Trust is an absolutely critical ingredient to an effective public health response. If people don’t trust the leadership, that’s a bad situation. Unfortunately, we’re in that bad situation.”
“California and Washington appeared very early to be leaders in taking action, while much of the rest of the country remained in the illusion that somehow this wasn't coming,” Professor Wendy Parmet tells The Daily Beast. “I don't think any state has done it perfectly—maybe they can’t in this environment.”
“The courts are trying to use video and teleconferencing to keep the wheels of justice turning,” Professor Daniel Medwed tells The Boston Globe. “What sort of remains to be seen is not which cases are emergencies, but how is technology up to this crisis."
Mass. AG Maura Healey '98 joined WBUR's All Things Considered to answer questions about labor and consumer rights in the age of the coronavirus.
“People believed the rhetoric that containment would work,” Professor Wendy Parmet tells The Atlantic. “We keep them out, and we’ll be okay. When you have a body politic that buys into these ideas of isolationism and ethnonationalism, you’re especially vulnerable when a pandemic hits.”
In developing responses to COVID-19, it’s important to consider lessons learned by past epidemics, as Dr. Anthony Fauci told us at our 2017 conference, “Between Complacency and Panic: Legal, Ethical and Policy Responses to Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
We’re moving quickly to transition previously on-the-ground events this spring to virtual opportunities to connect. Check our calendar regularly as we build our virtual programming.
Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka ’80 will deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Reunion Gala Dinner on Saturday, October 24, as we honor the classes of 1950s, ’75, ’80, ’85, ’90, ’95, ’00, 2005, ’10 and ’15.