Thread by @CovidTownHall

Today!! @ucdavisbiology #CovidTownHall guest Dr. Lisa Ikemoto, @UCDavisLaw Martin Luther King Jr. Professor & @FRIUCDavis Advisory Board member! We'll talk #pandemic #bioethics, #healthcare & #publichealth law and policy. 3:30PT for live-streaming link: facebook.com/ucdavisbiology/

Happening now! Dr. Lisa Ikemoto discusses pandemic bioethics and law with us for @ucdavisbiology
#CovidTownHall! Livestream from 3:30-5pm PT. Join us!!
facebook.com/ucdavisbiology/

Dr. Ikemoto was awarded a B.A. in English (American Studies) and History at UCLA, a Juris Doctor from our very own UC Davis Law School, and a Master of Laws from Columbia University’s School of Law.
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UC Davis was very fortunate to attract Dr. Ikemoto back to join its faculty in the Law School, where she now teaches many courses on the topics of bioethics, health care law, public health law, reproductive rights, law & policy, and marital property.
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Ikemoto is a world-renowned expert in reproductive & genetic technology issues & #healthcare disparities. She uses #criticalracefeminism & interdisciplinary approaches to surface the ways in which race, gender, immigration status, class shape technology use & health care delivery

Ikemoto has written about court-ordered cesareans, involuntary sterilization, effects of Catholic – non-Catholic hospital mergers on women’s health care, race and gender disparities in health care.
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Ikemoto has written on the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s exclusion of abortion coverage on women of color, the fertility market’s dependence on inequality, CRISPR genetic modification technology, and emerging markets in human cells and tissues. #CovidTownHall

Ikemoto's current work examines emerging issues in regenerative medicine, including stem cell research & the human tissues market.
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Today we're excited to discuss with Dr. Ikemoto emerging pandemic-related legal, ethical and social issues people are experiencing or may experience in the not so distant future.
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Ikemoto: shared artwork by Ada Yokota. We are all in this together. Anyone can be affected. Any yet we see racial disparities.
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Ikemoto:
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Ikemoto: those testing positive are overwhelmingly Hispanic/ Latinx. Let's talk about these inequalities
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Ikemoto: We have a "patchwork" healthcare system in the US that "really makes no sense". Peak number of people without health insurance right before Affordable Care Act. Then went down. After repealed, see rate of uninsured increasing again.
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Ikemoto: The disease burden represents racial segregation we have in the US. Relative visual b/c these 3 groups shown here are at higher risk for #COVID19
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Ikemoto: This shows the way that our labor sectors have been framed, and some of the essential occupations. Note: hourly wage of "essential" people is very low. Also at high risk b/c work in close proximity to others.
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Ikemoto: Anti-Asian racism has ramped up in the US
#CovidTownHall. Here, Dan Patrick quoted that elderly should sacrifice themselves for the economy. This idea of certain people being "disposable".

Ikemoto: Part of what's shaping current conversation re lifting shelter at home measures is that we're getting numb to these statistics. We begin to think of people/groups as statistics. Numbers don't have a face.
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Ikemoto: wrote essay a few years ago on "bio-privilege" - thinking about how social norms, like racism and sexism, affect policies, testing, and ideas like "immunity passports".
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Ikemoto: to get tested, you have to actually have the time to do it, and a way to get there, and knowledge of how/where/when. Many disparities in just getting access to testing.
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Ikemoto: Texas vs the US to be heard by Supreme Court in Fall. In challengers prevail, Affordable Care Act could go away completely, leaving many uninsured, putting EVERYONE at risk
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Ikemoto: We can all push back a bit on the cost/risk benefit weighing of things. Could be a factor, but shouldn't be end all. Example, expanding healthcare is huge $$ cost, but huge savings down line. Plus, must consider our values of lives.
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Ikemoto: to help combat racism, take on uncomfortable conversations & deeply examine and engage. Hard work. Lifelong process. Engage with professional organizations. VOTE!
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Ikemoto: on addressing inequities with digital contact tracing (eg. phone apps): assumes access. Also, it's a form of surveillance. Once implemented (like in 9/11) it's hard to roll back. Must ask, what protections needed to stop from being misused?
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Ikemoto: perhaps could do things such as decentralize apps (only keep on phone using app). Legal prohibitions needed to stop companies from sharing information, etc
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Ikemoto: There is a balancing going on right now between "economy" and "human life value". But perhaps they're not as in opposition to each other as we think!
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Ikemoto: Anti-Asian sentiment wasn't started by Trump but certainly was stoked by him. There's been long history of using rhetoric of public discourse about disease in racist ways.
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Ex. The Page Act of 1875 -1st restrictive federal immigration law in the United States, which effectively prohibited the entry of Chinese women, marking the end of open borders.
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Ikemoto: Sharing/hearing personal stories shifts one from being part of a statistical life to more of a personal one. Which is powerful.
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Ikemoto: Asked about "Big Dick Data" that promises outcomes being farmed from data which are unlikely to be produced for the sake of funding. What are the ethics of making such grandiose promises?

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Also asked about about Trump invoking the Defense Production Act to mandate meat processing plants stay open during the pandemic. Many complexities and intersections. Must consider many options to protect workers.
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Ikemoto on the ethics of privacy: Wide variety of views and some of them are generational. But we should take privacy seriously. It's not just about the info that gets out there, but that data banks are capital assets, which is the basis of a lot of power in the US
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Ikemoto: biggest concerns in her research are privatization of information. There are fewer checks and balances on corporate power than government power. Constitution doesn't apply to private companies.
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Ikemoto: We need to consider the differences in who values what and who would want to protect what info from others. We need to have that conversation.
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Ikemoto: Researches healthcare disparities and thinks a lot about issues of eugenics. Nobody is perfectly healthy anymore. Decades ago you were either "healthy" or "sick". We all have certain predispositions, so now more aspects that are available for consideration
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Ikemoto: The language of blame is ramped up with neoliberalism/"personal responsibility". But blame goes way beyond the body. Ex: environmental factors, resources available. Requires large structural changes. "Personal responsibility" is too simple/convenient.
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Ikemoto asked if we can rely on government for accurate information...👀
A: State government has had to step up.
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