The Florida COVID-19 Experience: Successes, Challenges and Solutions for the Next Pandemic
Members of the University of Miami Public Health Policy Lab conducted interviews with 25 preparedness stakeholders to gauge readiness for the next pandemic.
The COVID-19 public health emergency was not easy to navigate, but we learned some important lessons along the way.
We learned, for example, that not every state, region or city looked at public health protections the same. This left researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine wondering what experts from the government, academia and the private sector think about how the pandemic played out in Florida. What improvements could be made before the next infectious disease outbreak? And how might implementing new protocols prove challenging in the Sunshine State?
José Szapocznik, Ph.D., professor and chair emeritus of the Miller School’s Department of Public Health Sciences, Anicca Liu, Ph.D., senior research associate of health services research and policy at the Miller School, and their colleagues at the University of Miami Public Health Policy Lab conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 pandemic preparedness stakeholders.
“There were some concerns that were raised by local public health officials about the challenges of working between the local and the state officials. So we thought it would be helpful to find a more formal way of gathering information from different perspectives,” Dr. Szapocznik said.
They published their full findings in the journal PLOS One.
Confusion vs. Collaboration
It was unclear which Florida agencies and officials had jurisdiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Confusion ensured. The experts interviewed for the study proposed creating a pandemic playbook prior to the next pandemic to more clearly delineate roles and responsibilities of public health officials.
Collaboration between the Florida Departments of Health and Emergency Management would make sense, Dr. Szapocznik said. Health officials could address the well-being of Floridians while emergency management officials could manage the rapid response, ordering of necessary supplies and lifting of bureaucratic requirements during an emergency.
“Together, they could do a better job than separately,” he added.
Striking a Balance
Florida was one of the states that lifted restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The emergency was called in March 2020 and by May, the state was already looking at how to reopen restaurants and other businesses,” Dr. Liu said.
Some experts interviewed for the study emphasized the importance of finding a balance between protecting public health and not unnecessarily impairing businesses in the state, including the tourism industry.
Many people worked in positions that required contact with others, and it should not be a choice between employment and mortality, some of the leaders interviewed noted. Instead, determining a way to financially support people during difficult times might be a good option. Another idea is to target public health precautions to an affected city or neighborhood rather than instituting large, blanket business closure policies across a region or the state.
State, Local or a Little of Both?
During the COVID-19 public health emergency in Florida, “we had a very centralized approach, which has its benefits,” Dr. Liu said.
However, the state preempting all local municipalities from instituting their own public health initiatives may not be the best strategy either, the experts noted.
Dr. Szapocznik said, “How do you take advantage of what a state can offer and what a community can offer, so that each community has the best possible approach for its own citizens?”
Public health officials, by definition, look to safeguard the well-being of large groups of people, whether it’s a community, region, state or country. This can generate tension in Florida.
“We’re in a state where a large part of the population doesn’t support that public health perspective. So we have to think about how to bring a public health perspective to a state where there is stronger support for individual rights and for protecting the economy and jobs,” Dr. Szapocznik said.
Finding an approach that most residents can support is essential. Likewise, finding trusted messengers to deliver accurate public health communications is important, but not without its own challenges.
“The kinds of people that everybody trusts doesn’t exist in society today,” Dr. Szapocznik said.
Dr. Szapocznik suggested getting people from different perspectives together to agree upon a trusted source. This strategy also should yield one central communication source, because hearing from multiple sources tend to cause more confusion than guidance. Is it possible to achieve this goal?
“We would hope so, but we recognize that we are in a political environment where that may not happen right away,” Dr .Szapocznik said.
Tags: COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anicca Liu, Dr. José Szapocznik, pandemic, public health sciences