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This article explores the challenges of communicating public health guidance during a pandemic, focusing on the example of mask recommendations in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. It underscores the ethical dilemmas faced by public health officials in balancing transparency with evolving scientific knowledge and resource shortages. Initially, there was hesitation in recommending masks for the general public due to concerns about mask shortages, leading to mixed messaging. As evidence supporting mask effectiveness grew, guidance shifted to advocating universal mask use, contributing to public confusion and mistrust. The article underscores two key ethical principles: the precautionary principle, advocating for protective action in uncertain situations, and harm reduction, emphasizing minimizing harm when complete risk elimination is unfeasible. It also highlights the importance of transparent communication but acknowledges that excessive transparency can sometimes cause confusion and mistrust. To enhance public health communication during uncertainty and resource scarcity, the article recommends utilizing trusted messengers, structuring uncertainty, acknowledging the role of values in recommendations, and recognizing emotional responses to risk information.

The 2019 call for papers on “Taboos in Health Communication: Stigma, Silence, and Voice” coincided with the emergence of COVID-19, which drastically transformed the world. This pandemic, with over 235 million cases and nearly 5 million deaths by October 2021, not only had severe health consequences but also led to economic and social crises, including increased domestic violence and mental health issues. It pushed health communication and public relations to the forefront of crisis management, overshadowing other health concerns. This shift highlighted the importance of addressing taboos, stigmas, and silences, particularly in areas like mental and reproductive health, maternal health, and vaccination efforts. The special issue explores how public relations and health communication influence public discourse and societal norms, challenging established assumptions and power dynamics in a COVID-19-dominated world. It acknowledges the historically limited connection between public health and public relations and calls for addressing cultural taboos and stigmas. The issue advocates for applying critical theory in health communication and promoting an interdisciplinary approach to address these challenges, with the ultimate goal of integrating public relations insights into broader socio-cultural, political, and economic discussions in the post-pandemic era.

This article discusses the need for a disability data justice framework to support health equity goals. Even though 27% of American adults report having a disability, there exists limited COVID-19 data for the disabled community. Some public health surveys administered during the pandemic did not incorporate questions around disability until 2021. The article presents a series of recommendations on ways to achieve disability data justice. These include making disability a core element of all demographic data collection alongside race, ethnicity, and gender identity, increasing representation of disabled people across health professions, collaborating with members of the disabled community when developing and implementing disability data collection, and making health data accessible to all people with disabilities.

This study from the American Journal of Managed Care identifies the main factors influencing the implementation and sustainability of cross-sector data sharing between a community-based organization and an academic medical center via a case study of the Mid-Ohio Farmacy (MOF) produce referral program. The MOF is a unique program developed by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) to provide food insecure patients who have a qualifying chronic condition with money to purchase produce from food pantries on a monthly basis. Researchers conducted a series of key informant interviews with OSUWMC and Mid-Ohio Food Collective representatives to characterize the challenges of data sharing between the academic medical center and the community-based organization. Challenges were grouped into three main buckets: data sharing regulations, data exchange capabilities, and cross sector data integration. Some keys findings from this paper include the need for clarification around HIPPA regulations for data exchange between covered and non-covered entities, the importance of incorporating social-risk data (such as a food security screening tool) into the electronic health record, and the need for additional research and guidance around how to create fully integrated shared databases between health care and social service agencies.

The article highlights the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and their influence on preparations for future public health emergencies. While the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 is set to end in May 2023, the FDA emphasizes the continued importance of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Addressing misinformation and strengthening supply chain resilience are key priorities, and the FDA is developing more efficient inspection planning systems. Modernizing FDA authorities and maintaining a commitment to planning for the future are also emphasized to enhance national security and public health preparedness.

Using a grant from the National Science Foundation, Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP) developed tools and systems to respond effectively to infectious disease pandemics. Recommendations from this work include avoiding reinvention of the wheel by centralizing and standardizing approaches to pandemic response planning, collaboration and information sharing among public health stakeholders, investing in high-performance computing and data management systems for public health, creating a national center for pandemic response, developing playbooks for fast-moving threats, and identifying sustainable and scalable solutions.

This study investigates deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users’ access to telehealth and outpatient encounters during the pandemic. The findings emphasize the importance of optimizing proactive accommodation planning and access including in telehealth platforms.

Director of the Health Equity Core at Harvard Medical School, Professor Sprague Martinez has organized a team of partners to identify the impact of long COVID on Black and Latinx communities in Massachusetts and barriers they experience in accessing treatment. The project is part of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, which aims to address the challenges of COVID-19 and future pandemics. The Health Equity Core focuses on understanding the impact of long COVID on diverse communities, increasing access to treatment and resources, and influencing relevant policies. The team includes partners from various institutions and will emphasize community engagement, data collection, dissemination, and policy advocacy efforts.

This article discusses strategies to promote equity in COVID-19 antiviral treatment. It highlights the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on marginalized groups and the need to address inequities in access to antiviral medications. The authors discuss barriers to equity, such as low awareness, limited access to healthcare, scarcity of therapeutics, and treatment prioritization. They propose strategies to overcome these barriers, including community-driven outreach campaigns, addressing healthcare costs for uninsured patients, transparent allocation of therapeutics, and monitoring data to ensure equity. The article emphasizes the importance of proactive and transparent approaches to promote health equity in COVID-19 treatment.

This article discusses the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) distribution of $1.3 million in grants to organizations studying the potential permanent adoption of COVID-19 care access measures to promote health equity in opioid use disorder treatment. The grants aim to investigate the impact of temporary policies, such as virtual care, on access to care and patient outcomes. The studies will explore how relaxed prescribing policies for buprenorphine, telehealth strategies, and other COVID-19 measures have affected patient access and outcomes, particularly among underserved populations. The research will inform evidence-based policies to sustain access to better care beyond the pandemic and address the ongoing opioid crisis.