Irving Vega, Ph.D.:
We need to be better in recognizing how to protect everyone equally. In general, the government should re-define “disaster relief” to add a provision that includes health emergencies such as a pandemic. Covid-19 showed to all how ill-prepared we (both the government and the public) were to handle the social aspects related to a healthcare emergency. Part of redefining disaster relief includes:
Developing social assistance for those more in need
This requires a government re-structure, where agencies that haven't been involved — such as the social security system — become activated to provide assistance based on the respective contribution of each individual. This should be supported by FEMA in order to avoid straining the social security system.
The Housing department should also mandate a freeze in all mortgages for those who lose their job during the emergency until they find a new job, or at least for a considerable time during the emergency.
Recognizing work and food insecurity as a factor in decision making, by
Supporting food banks and food drives
Acknowledging that the most vulnerable are overrepresented in part-time jobs that don't have benefits, and as a consequence require a program (emergency or otherwise) to supplement being underinsured or uninsured
Identifying and intervening in industries and services that put employees at higher risk
We should demand a federal effort to protect employees through strict safety parameters that have actual ramifications [versus recommendations — consider a statewide requirement to wear masks, but with no penalties or enforcement for not doing so]
The general public can use social media to give voice to those employees that are at risk due to lack of protective equipment or policies [calling out business that do not adequately protect their employees, for example]
Bringing testing closer to underserved communities — instead of “institutionalizing” testing, testing within healthcare institutions that traditionally have not provided service to all
This is what we were doing in my lab, and two months later the governor made an executive order to authorize community testing, allowing other healthcare providers to have general orders for testing
Community organizations could consider taking a step forward and working hand-on-hand with healthcare providers to provide areas for testing at their own parking lots or building depending of the available infrastructure