Paper Example on COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining National Policies in America

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus) has out the world in a standstill. On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization referred to COVID-19 as a pandemic (Chappell, 2020). Over the months, new infections and death toll related to COVID-19 are on the rise in countries globally. In America, there have been scattering national policy initiatives related to medical, health, political, and racial dimensions among many others. Regarding those policies, some are important to me as a public administrator. They include (1) developing national dissemination of information, (2) developing national health protection policy for children in educational institutions, and (3) developing a U.S. policy that will facilitate international travel. The purpose of this paper is to design policy solutions according to these dimensions.

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The first policy dimension that is significant to me is developing national dissemination of information that is based on credible, empirical evidence, and “truthful” information to the public. Jardali et al. (2020) asserted that the response of the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging due to misinformation and fake news. The authors discussed knowledge translation platforms, which play a significant role in informing the public about the pandemic. A policy should be in place to ensure that knowledge translation platforms deliver accurate and timely information. An evidence-informed policy is significant because the public will manage to get credible, empirical, and truthful information. The solution to alleviate misinformation and fake news about COVID-19 is for policymakers to design knowledge translating platforms that will provide trustworthy evidence to the public. I would design the solution by allowing only knowledge translation platforms such as television stations and newspapers to report credible information about the pandemic.

The second policy dimension that is significant to me is developing a national health protection policy for children in educational institutions, daycare, elementary, middle school, high school, colleges, and universities. The crisis is threatening to exacerbate the education system since most schools globally are now closed (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). It is known that the virus spread through contaminated hands. In school settings, especially daycare and elementary, children often get dirty and forget to wash their hands. To protect themselves and their families, designing a policy that allows for designating hand sanitizers in the classrooms and different areas of the school setting as well as the compulsory use of masks among middle school, high school, colleges, and university students.

The third policy dimension is developing a US Policy that is geared towards international travel for incoming and outgoing travelers. The dimension is important to be because travel boost the country’s economy. Yu and Keralis (2020) indicated that travel restrictions violate international law. During this pandemic, however, the government has put restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus. To protect people’s lives, I would design a policy that only allows the international travel of businesses people who have tested negative for the coronavirus and have been quarantined for two weeks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has validated the massive effect of policies. This paper calls for an urgent, comprehensive, and targeted policy response in dimensions such as the dissemination of information, education system, and travel. For me, the three areas are significant because first, people will get credible and truthful information regarding the virus, children will be safer in schools, and the economy would grow due to travel. Overall, policymakers need to vigilant and careful in their policy implementations because it will address preventive care as well as cause economic mobility.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, May 19th). Considerations for Schools. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html

Chappell, B. (2020, March 11th). Coronavirus: COVID-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/11/814474930/coronavirus-covid-19-is-now-officially-a-pandemic-who-says

Jardali, F., Bou-Karroum, Lama., & Fadlallah, R. (2020). Amplifying the role of knowledge translation platforms in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Health Research Policy and Systems. 18. doi: 10.1186/s12961-020-00576-y.

Yu, W., & Keralis, J. (2020). Controlling COVID-19: The folly of international travel restrictions. Health and Human Rights Journal. https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/04/controlling-covid-19-the-folly-of-international-travel-restrictions/