Lexington Books Pandemics and Polarization: Implications of Partisan Budgeting for Responding to Public Health Emergencies

Partisan divisions over policy in the U.S. Congress and rising disease threats put millions of Americans at risk. The Zika public health emergency is used to illustrate the key functions of coordination, providing countermeasures, and engaging in disease surveillance which the government must engage in during such an emergency. The author looks at how the standoff over Zika funding negatively affected the government's response within federal agencies, as well as at the state and local level. Also examined in the book are serious threats still on the horizon that are expected to require strong government action in the future. Possible policies to avoid future gridlock are considered. Review Myers (Indiana State Univ.) tackles an enormously important question in this book: how do partisan politics in the US affect funding for response to and mitigation of public health emergencies? This exploration is pursued in detail through eight chapters, each of which concludes with a brief bullet-point summary entitled "Key Points from the Chapter." These summaries serve to reinforce the concepts and ideas presented in each chapter. In the central chapters, Myers employs a case study approach to the 2015-16 Zika virus epidemic to formulate his argument and provide evidence for its support. An important aspect of the text is that the focus does not remain on one level of government. Polarization and response are examined at the local, state, and federal levels, thoroughly exposing the complexity of public health emergencies as experienced within the constraints imposed by the US system of federalism, from "congressional dysfunction" (examined in chapter 3) to how local response to the Zika outbreak was affected by preexisting funding constraints (discussed in chapter 7). This versatile book could be useful to undergraduate and graduate students in courses on political science, public administration, policy studies, public health, emergency management, and in many other fields. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.--CHOICE For students of public administration and policy who are thinking about the most urgent issues confronting the field today, this book is essential reading. By juxtaposing political polarization with the threat posed by pandemics, Myers' book contributes to the literature on systems failure, and lays out the choices that we ignore at terrible cost.--M. Ernita Joaquin, San Francisco State University "Myers provides an eye-opening critique of how dangerously intertwined partisan politics are with responding to epidemics, which has implications for a devastating loss of life in America and worldwide. This book is needed to spark an overdue debate that goes beyond party lines, and address the importance of a stable funding source to ensure swift action in the face of inevitable public health emergencies."--Tara Sklar, University of Arizona Myers has written a valuable account of the building of US public health preparedness efforts to respond to epidemics.. He gives a view of flashpoints in the response to SARS, Avian flu, Zika and Ebola. Legislative struggles with waxing and waning budget support. Origins of government efforts around medical countermeasure development, hospital preparedness, and disease surveillance. And in the end, he makes a persuasive argument that preparedness is strongest when the issue is non-partisan, with both parties rowing in the same direction for the health and safety of the public."--Tom Inglesby, Director of the Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Pandemics and Polarization is a valuable contribution to the literature on public health emergency preparedness. Nathan Myers documents how the growing virulence of politics in the United States has converged with the increasing risks posed by emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Myers rightly places politics front and center in his analysis of US responses to public health emergencies s