Weekend Reading?

🌎New Publication🌏
The first in the ILIAID Consortium White Paper series on IHR Reform:

"Reforming the Declaration Power for Global Health Emergencies" by @clarewenham @alexandraphelan @MarkRTurner Sam Halabi.

Available here: georgetown.box.com/s/w0u7k6dwb740…

(1/7) Image
Why did we write this? In light of COVID19, suggestions to reform the mechanism for declaring a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) have gained renewed attention & political will. Any substantial reform of PHEICs will likely require amendment to the IHR (2/7)
Already, multiple international and regional processes to review global COVID-19 response, including the operation of the IHR, are underway, including @TheIndPanel, @WHO Health Emergency Program IOAC & the IHR Review Committee.
(3/7)
This White Paper examines issues that have arisen with the current declaration process, including the rationale for the PHEIC declaration power and the sometimes-misunderstood legal basis for declaring PHEICs.
(4/7)
We identify tensions inherent to the PHEIC declaration to preempt similar issues that may arise with proposed reforms, including:
– a regional level declaration
– traffic-light system
– revised criteria
– making "pandemic" declarations.
(5/7)
But just reforming PHEICs may not address (& replicate) existing issues with the process.

We propose areas for IHR reform:
– transparency
– equity
– evidence repository
– response guidance
– funding mechanism
– reinforcing norms
for better global health security.
(6/7)
We look forward to sharing the full White Paper series & working with more colleagues over the coming months.

More information about the International Law and Infectious Disease (ILIAID) Consortium can be found here (with a new website launch soon)
(7/7)
ghss.georgetown.edu/iliaid/

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More from @alexandraphelan

15 Nov
Failures in US leadership mean Americans face tough decisions with Festive Season. In Jan, China faced similar choices but w more uncertainty).

A short thread comparing & drawing lessons between:
– January China 🧧Lunar New Year🧧
– November United States 🦃Thanksgiving🦃

1/13
Starting with some case count comparisons between Lunar New Year in China & now in the US:

– 254.3 cases per day: China (Jan 25)
– 135,714.3 cases per day: US (Nov 12)

2/13 ImageImage
Much focus on China's success has been on lockdowns: a time when we didn't know much, didn't have widely available testing & govt support to ensure socio-economic protections. Now, lockdowns can be avoided with strong public health & health systems.

But...

3/13
Read 13 tweets
4 Nov
We've warned of pandemics (inc. CoV) but govts have failed to act.

Special Rapporteur Prof David Boyd "Human rights have been a catalyst for the types of transformative changes that scientists are saying that we need"

(THREAD)
#PandemicRecovery @Cambridge_Uni @BennettInst
"The achilles heel of international environmental law... is a lack of enforcement mechanisms, and human rights overcomes [that challenge]" David Boyd
#PandemicRecovery @Cambridge_Uni @BennettInst

I completely agree & have written more about this here:
opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/l…
Dame Barbara Stocking: "What about the next pandemic?"
"We are pressing to have a UN Convention on Pandemics as @WHO does not have the mandate: Member States do not allow it to have an inspector function or doing what is needed to be done"
#PandemicRecovery @Cambridge_Uni
Read 4 tweets
8 Oct
In past pandemic planning scenarios, we war game what would happen if the president and VP are both unable to fulfill their constitutional duties due to an infectious disease.

The Presidency, the Agencies, and Congress all have clear processes (set out below) but...
(1/5)
⏹️Presidency⏹️

Presidential Succession Act (1947) sets out order:
1⃣Vice President (M. Pence)
2⃣Speaker of the House (N. Pelosi)
3⃣Speaker pro tempore (C. Grassley)

Then Cabinet members on dept creation order starting with4⃣State (M. Pompeo)5⃣Treasury (S. Mnuchin)

(2/5)
⏹️Congress⏹️
Senate: filled by appointment
House: filled by election (rules set by states)

Quorum is necessary for many activities: in light of 9/11, in 2003, 1st Continuity of Congress Report called for a Constitutional amendment to allow for temporary elections:
(3/5)
Read 5 tweets
13 Aug
Today, @nytimes has examined the CDC's data for excess mortality ("deaths above normal") over the pandemic.

Since March, at least 200,000 more Americans have died than usual.

That's ~60,000 more deaths than officially directly linked to #COVID19.

1/3
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
You can see the pattern of excess deaths match the movement of the pandemic across the US.

This suggests that official death counts may be substantially underestimating overall effects of #covid19: inc. deaths from SARS-CoV-2 & other causes linked to the pandemic.

2/3
Accurate counts during epidemics are challenging: mortality from past pandemics (eg 1918 & 2009 flu) have been recalculated afterwards.

But this shows how critical accurate data reporting systems are & why Trump Admin's decisions on data are so worrying:
wsj.com/articles/covid…
Read 4 tweets
7 Jul
We've been working on something very exciting that I can now share!

🥁Introducing 🥁

COVID Analysis & Mapping of Policies #COVIDAMP
covidamp.org

A resource for decision-makers, researchers & lawyers tracking US & global #Covid19 laws & policies ⚖️

🧵Details!
1/10 Image
Starting with the COVID AMP interactive map, you first get a visual snapshot of US cases and a quantified scale of the level of physical distancing policy & laws in place for each state.

covidamp.org/policymaps

2/10 Image
Click on any state to see what laws & policies are currently active (repealed & relaxing policies are also in the data) like:
- business shutdowns
- mass gathering bans
- facemasks

Pop up also shows you the phase of recovery & number of new #COVID19 cases over last 7 days.
3/10
Read 12 tweets
11 Jun
Last night, US District Court ruled that police in Portland, Oregon are limited in using tear gas against protestors because, inter alia, the risk of irreparable harm given the #covid19 pandemic.

1. A thread on this decision & reflection on evidence between science & law.
2. The Plaintiffs claimed use of tear gas violates:
– Fourth Amendment (as excessive force as an unreasonable search and seizure) &
– First Amendment (chilling political speech)

For a restraining order, Ps had to show that irreparable injury is likely w/o injunction.
3. The Court made this finding after asking parties to provide further evidence on "the science of tear gas" and Covid19.
kptv.com/news/suit-to-s…
Read 13 tweets

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