Pandemics are often disparate in their impact – devastating some areas while sparing others, affecting regions and countries differently, and revealing shocking divergences along lines of social density, geography, class, and ethnicity. Public responses and public health measures can also accentuate these differences. What light do past experiences with influenza, Ebola, and other epidemics shed on our understanding of the forces driving these different experiences across urban centers and the geopolitics of epidemics? How can this history inform responses to COVID-19?

Presenters:

Howard Markel, University of Michigan | Social Distancing/Urban Disparities

Evelynn Hammonds, Harvard University | On the Racial Effects of Epidemics

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Columbia University | Local and Global Effects

Gregg Mitman, University of Wisconsin, Madison | The Geopolitics of Ebola and COVID-19

Moderator: Pablo Gómez, University of Wisconsin, Madison