“In 1918, the childhood mortality rate for children under five-years-old was one in five. Every household knew of a child who died at a very young age, often of a contagious disease or dehydration issues. Back then, the care of the ill was almost exclusively at home. Today, death has been taken out of the household. Very few people have seen someone die today. In 1918, it was probably 90%. Death issues need to be talked about. For example, what should we do if public gatherings for funerals are cancelled? How will that affect people? There are social effects of quarantine, although now we have some resources to mitigate the effects. Public health departments (municipal, state, and federal) are all funded very differently. Post 9-11, bioterrorism preparedness efforts have been good for public health, because they are not mutually exclusive problems. Whether man-made or ecological, the strategies we need to use to address these problems are not that different.”
