Saturday, May 9, 2020 | 9 - 10:30 am Session 4 | Epidemic Responses: Civil Liberties and Public Health Politics
In the face of epidemic outbreaks, public health demands (whether for the wearing of masks, stay-at-home orders, quarantine and curfews, no-spitting ordinances, or mandatory testing) have often sacrificed individual freedoms in order to safeguard public wellbeing. But in the past, as today, controversies have flared over those demands and their lasting consequences. What implications have pandemics and crises in the past, and responses to them, had for civil liberties? How can the past inform the present response to COVID-19?
Presenters:
Barron Lerner, New York University | Pandemics and Civil Liberties
Richard Mizelle, University of Houston | Black Lives in the Wake of Calamity
David Barnes, University of Pennsylvania | Quarantine: Lessons from the Lazaretto
Moderator:
Raúl Necochea, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill