

David C. Pate, MD, JD, and Ted Epperly, MD
Medical experts on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic provide recommendations for governments, health agencies, and schools to prepare for the next outbreak.
Another pandemic is coming. The type, severity, and spread are unknown, but governments, public health agencies, schools, and all other organizations must be prepared in order to minimize damage and save lives. We need to identify the lessons learned from our successes and failures during the COVID-19 pandemic to plan better for our future response.
In Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak, David C. Pate, MD, JD, and Ted Epperly, MD...
Medical experts on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic provide recommendations for governments, health agencies, and schools to prepare for the next outbreak.
Another pandemic is coming. The type, severity, and spread are unknown, but governments, public health agencies, schools, and all other organizations must be prepared in order to minimize damage and save lives. We need to identify the lessons learned from our successes and failures during the COVID-19 pandemic to plan better for our future response.
In Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak, David C. Pate, MD, JD, and Ted Epperly, MD, combine their decades of experience as doctors and health care leaders who have led their organizations through numerous public health challenges to create an extensive list of practical recommendations for a variety of organizations and agencies to better prepare for the next pandemic. They worked together in the fight against COVID-19 and the misinformation that devastated so many communities across the country. From the exam room to the public health board meeting room to the state capitol, Pate and Epperly use their expertise to craft 117 specific recommendations that organizations and governments can implement now in order to better prepare for the future. They divide these recommendations into checklists specific to different contexts: schools, hospitals, public health agencies, state governments, and the federal government. Public health officials, medical practitioners, state and local officials, school board members, disaster management leaders, and anyone with a stake in preparing their communities against future outbreaks will benefit from the recommendations Pate and Epperly outline.
This is the first book to apply lessons learned in real time during a pandemic while chronicling which responses did and did not work and why. The authors examine the global, national, and local responses to COVID-19 and illustrate how we can learn from the mistakes of this pandemic so as not to repeat them during the next.
The authors provide a play-by-play of the COVID-19 pandemic with recommendations included throughout. This book adds significant value to the understanding of how this pandemic began, the core elements of the world's response, and how these responses have played out. There are limited books currently available that I have read that can dive deep into many of the response elements and provide authoritative recommendations based on real, boots-on-the-ground experience.
Among the many books that have been or will be written about our painful journey through the COVID-19 pandemic, Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak should be on the bookshelf of every health care provider, public health professional, policy expert, elected official, and concerned citizen. The authors have given us a brilliant ground-zero perspective on what COVID did to our communities and what we must do to prepare for the next pandemic to avoid our many mistakes with this one.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed profound deficiencies at multiple levels in our US health system. In time, the US became the worst affected high-income country in terms of COVID-19 deaths and disability. This important new book written by Drs. Pate and Epperly begins an essential process of dissecting these failings in the hope that lessons learned will help us for the next major outbreak that will surely come.
Finally, a book from senior, experienced healthcare leaders that provides a clear roadmap on how to prepare for the inevitable next pandemic by learning from our shortcomings. Written with humility and candor, this should be required reading for anyone in healthcare.
Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak draws on the leadership experience of Drs. Pate and Epperly from the front lines of COVID-19 to offer important recommendations on pandemic preparedness and response. This practical guide will undoubtedly serve as a critical reference for all students of public health.
David C. Pate and Ted Epperly's book Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak brings a refreshing, down-to-earth, and practical lens to dealing with major infectious disease threats that will surely plague us in this new century. Drawing from their on-the-ground work in Idaho, advising state and local leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic, these two public health physicians have provided a detailed, methodical guide for anyone who will be faced with difficult choices in institutional decision-making when the next 'big one' comes around, whether they are working in city hall or the White House.
I encourage everyone to read this book, as it provides a comprehensive road map for the next pandemic(s). Dr. Pate and Dr. Epperly provide level-headed, informative and data-driven advice, without pointing fingers or blaming. They consistently address each challenge with clear and accessible information.
Preface
1. The SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 Pandemic
2. Pandemic Surveillance and Early Response in the Future
3. The Intersection of COVID-19 and Society
4. The Haves and the Have Nots – The Racial
Preface
1. The SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 Pandemic
2. Pandemic Surveillance and Early Response in the Future
3. The Intersection of COVID-19 and Society
4. The Haves and the Have Nots – The Racial and Ethnic Disparities Revealed by COVID-19
5. The Growing Fire – Public Health vs. Public Protest
6. Man vs. Virus – A Comparative View
7. Needed Changes to the Federal Response
8. The Future Role of the States
9. Preparing Future Doctors, Nurses and Public Health Workers for the Next Pandemic
10. Preparing Public Health Departments for the Next Pandemic
11. The Rejection of Science
12. Dangerous and Erroneous Theories
13. Vaccines and Variants – A Race Against Time
14. Schools – Preparing for the Next Pandemic
15. Leadership Lessons from the Pandemic
16. Recommendation Checklists
Conclusion
Glossary
Index
with Hopkins Press Books