STAT June 6, 2024
No one knows when the next pandemic will sweep across the United States. It could be bird flu, or an as-yet unknown infection.
But after living through the Covid-19 pandemic, which claimed more than 1 million American lives, left more than 300,000 children orphaned, and shut down workplaces and schools, U.S. citizens should demand that the nation does better next time. This can happen only if, in addition to understanding the well-known narrative of national failure and loss, they also understand the stories of what worked in states, localities and tribes.
As governors of two very different states, Arkansas (A.H.) and Massachusetts (D.P.), each of us managed complex crises that threatened the health and ways of life of our constituents....