This article is the first in a series containing a synopsis of a longer paper I recently wrote discussing the “History of Government Involvement of Texas Public Health.” In that paper a distinction is made between private and government involvement in public health. There is also a distincti…

We sometimes think that a pandemic, such as COVID-19, is singular to our generation alone; but such is not the case. A pandemic is certainly unusual, but they have existed since (and before) recorded history. The earliest recorded pandemic occurred in Athens in 433 B.C., where two-thirds of …

According to an article published by Department of Defense, “Operation Warp Speed” is an effort to develop, manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine. OWS is a partnership among components of the Department of Human Services, the Defense Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Pr…

One of the factors a business or organization should seriously consider in applying for a Paycheck Protection Loan is that the federal government considers all such loans as public information; and the information is released on several public websites. ProPublica is one. The Small Business …

The usual epidemic definition is “an infectious disease that spreads rapidly among many people.” Shingles may not be considered an epidemic, but it certainly affects a large number of people. An estimated one million people develop Shingles in the United States each year.

The responses to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 are similar to the recommended responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It fits the adage, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

A great deal of time and effort is being expended to develop an effective vaccine for COVID-19. This gives rise to the question: What exactly is in a vaccine? There are a number of published articles on the subject. The first thing to remember is that a vaccine is a preventative, not a cure.

Polio is a terrible, highly contagious, viral infectious disease that is crippling and often fatal. It has existed for hundreds of years. There is no cure, but there are effective vaccines to prevent the infection. Just prior to the release of the first effective vaccine, hundreds of thousan…

This is the second in a series of articles discussing disease outbreaks in the United States. The first article discussed the difference between “isolation” and “quarantine.” For review purposes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “isolation” separates sick people w…

This is the first in a series of articles discussing the subjects of “quarantine” and “isolation.” Interestingly, isolation and quarantine have not always been practiced as a means of preventing the transmission of diseases. Prior to the advent of COVID-19, the last large-scale enforcement o…