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With the recent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and on-going concerns about influenza and the use of pathogenic organisms as weapons, the management of outbreaks of contagious diseases has recently taken on a new urgency (Barbera et al., 2001). However, the public health law concerning disease outbreaks is still based on the perspectives, and often the words, of the early twentieth century, when most public officials saw little option but to take a very authoritarian approach to the protection of the public's health. Over the past 40 years, the jurisprudence of involuntary non-criminal incarceration, for example for the treatment of tuberculosis or as a result of mental disease, has changed dramatically, as basic concepts of due process have been incorporated into the process of civil commitment (Gostin, Burris, & Lazzarini, 1999). There is, therefore, a pressing need to rethink the approaches traditionally taken to the control of infectious disease outbreaks to address this gap between the old assumptions of plenary power to act in the public's interests and the rights of individuals threatened with state actions (Davis & Kumar, 2003). It is a canard sometimes used to justify authoritarian actions that the public responds to emergencies by losing control and panicking; indeed it is the consensus of social scientists that people in emergency situations tend to be more cooperative and more generous toward others than they may normally be (Smith, 2001; Clarke, 2002). If anything, it is my reading of such experiences as the bomb attacks on London during World War II (Harrisson, 1989) that it is the poorly prepared and under-supported public officials who are most likely to act in unproductive and socially divisive ways during public emergencies.

The 2003 global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was an abrupt reminder that infectious diseases pose a continuing threat to human health. In 1967, U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart declared “it was time to close the book on infectious diseases” (Garrett, 1994, citing W.H. Stewart, “A Mandate for State Action,” presented at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, Washington, DC, December 4, 1967). In the latter half of the twentieth century, many shared this bold view that medical science had vanquished infectious disease. As a result, public health struggled to remain relevant in the face of advances in pharmaceuticals, surgery, genetics and other areas that were becoming increasingly dominant in the quest to extend and enhance human life. SARS forced many to rethink the significance of public health and the crisis, though relatively short-lived, (for commentary on the disparities between the responses to HIV and SARS, see e.g. Altman (2003)) underscored the need to rebuild public health capacity that had been allowed to slip down the health system priority list.

Several emergency public health issues have a tremendous impact on and rely upon close coordination with law enforcement officials. Most interactions involve law enforcement personnel providing security, crowd control, and/or traffic control during public health related incidents. However, as varied chemical and biological threats have emerged over the years, this interaction has increased to include joint investigations between the two disciplines. Certain biological threats, such as pandemics, pose direct threats to the law enforcement agency operations. Understanding the role of public health in emergencies, the overlapping missions, and the threats at all levels allows law enforcement professionals to better prepare themselves and their organizations for coordinating operations and maintaining continuity of law enforcement services.

The modern human rights movement, like American bioethics, was born from the devastation of World War II. The multinational trial of the major Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg following World War II was held on the premise that there is a higher law of humanity (derived from natural law rules based on an understanding of the essential nature of humans), and that individuals may be properly tried for violating that law. Universal criminal law includes crimes against humanity, such as murder, genocide, torture, and slavery. Obeying the orders of superiors is no defense: the state cannot shield its agents from prosecution for crimes against humanity.

In March 2020, the Australian Government restricted the entry of travelers into Australia by closing its international borders in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). While Australian citizens who were resident overseas could return to Australia under certain conditions, the border closures significantly affected their ability to return to Australia and as a consequence had a dramatic impact on their lives and the lives of their families. This chapter explores the effects of the Australian government’s decision to close the national border by presenting the lived experiences of Australian citizens adversely affected by the government’s decision. The research is based on an online survey conducted in late 2021 and early 2022. Based on the findings, this chapter explores notions of Australian citizenship rights and privileges in the context of the pandemic, and the profound impacts the national lockout had on Australians as individuals, family members and on their sense of national identity. A central finding of this research reveals how citizens’ separation from family during the lockout placed considerable stress on the family as a social institution and caused significant impacts on Australians’ physical and mental health.

March 30, 2020 is a day of qualitative changes in the Lithuanian education system. This day in history – at least in the history of education – will record the day when mass distance learning began in the entire Lithuanian education system. All educational activities from kindergarten to higher and adult education were organized at a distance. In fact, the idea of distance learning was not so new in Lithuania. The first steps in developing a distance learning system in Lithuania were taken 25 years ago, but before the pandemic, it was more the exception than the norm and, of course, it had never been global. But in Spring 2020, all educational institutions (in general education during 2 weeks, in higher – even only during 2–3 days) were transformed from contact to distance learning. From a few-month perspective, it can be said that, despite all the circumstances, this transformation has been quite successful. In order to better understand the reasons for this quite sufficiently successful transition, it would be worthwhile to briefly review the organization of distance learning in Lithuania until the 2020 pandemic.

Purpose – We investigate the impact of overlapping crises of COVID-19 and the George Floyd protests on one major US police department, focusing on staffing and officer proactivity.

Methodology/Approach – The study investigates the impact of the two crises on operational capacity. Using Bayesian interrupted time-series analysis, the authors investigate if officer proactivity levels were adversely impacted in the short and long terms.

Findings – A statewide stay-at-home order (SAHO) was associated with a sharp decline in proactive contacts, but that effect dissipated quickly. However, the Floyd protests were associated with a sharp decline in proactivity, which persisted throughout the study period.

Originality/Value – The findings of this study contribute to ongoing research agendas that seek to understand the impact of dual, overlapping crises on US police departments and the communities they serve. The authors demonstrate a methodological approach capable of disentangling both crises’ effects on police activity levels.

Purpose – For much of the first half of 2003 world attention was captured by news of a mysterious but deadly virus that was claiming lives in places as distant as Toronto and Beijing. In a matter of months there were around 8,000 infections and over 689 deaths related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In my hometown, Toronto, 43 people died of SARS during the outbreaks of 2003.

Approach – This chapter examines issues of class and poverty in emergence of SARS. The chapter begins with a discussion of the political economy of the emergence of SARS, and its relation to the spread of the virus. It then discusses issues of public policy, and particularly neo-liberal cuts to social services and public spending, that set the stage for the SARS outbreak, influenced its impact and contributed to the failures of response in Ontario.

Findings – Through analysis of the lack of social resources available to working people in the province and the prioritizing of corporate, particularly tourism industry, concerns, the chapter illustrates how issues of class underpinned public responses to SARS, exacerbating problems. The chapter concludes by giving attention to the need for social solidarity and community mutual aid.

Contributions to the field – The chapter shows the extent to which neo-liberal governments prioritize business security above the health and social security of workers and reveals some of the ways in which the pressures of capitalist social relations make people ill.

The year 2020 brought a series of previously unknown experiences, events, and life situations to the world. Fear of unknown, uncertainty, unpredictability, and dramatic changes have had a strong impact on all strata and segments of society. We assume that global happenings of the last decade, climate change, pandemic followed by its related strict restrictions mean a determining event for youngsters which fundamentally shapes their lifestyle, future prospects, problem perception, and their generational characteristics as well. In our study, we examine the real-life situation of students at the University of Szeged from numerous aspects, with particular regard to the possible generation-transforming role of climate and quarantine situation, and we also scrutinize to what extent our previous estimations can be verified with data. The online data collection was carried out in the spring of 2021, the sample contains 1195 members. As the result of the data analysis, we indicated that the coronavirus epidemic does not play a leading role in the problem perception of the students, however, their responses about their self-characterization testify on increased perception of crisis phenomena. Although public life and public discourse have been thematized by the coronavirus epidemic since spring 2020, incompetence of politicians and global environmental change are the most serious problems for the students. In the basic dimensions of youth vulnerability namely in the field of education, leisure, and finance, the satisfaction of the students are the lowest. As a result of the restrictive measures, the online activity of the students has further strengthened; instead of silence and apolitical behavior, the students are characterized by a strong public–political interest, increased sensitivity to global problems in the third wave of the pandemic.

The Day the World Stopped is a science fiction film that narrates the days of mankind amid an alien invasion headed to avoid the climate change. We made the decision to use a similar title to narrate the facts that precede the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, and its immediate effects on the industry of tourism. Over years, scholars cited John Urry and his insight over the tourist gaze as well as the importance of tourism as a social institution. Of course, Urry never imagined that one day this global world would end. This chapter centers on the needs of discussing the concept of the wicked gaze, which exhibits the end of hospitality, a tendency emerged after 9/11. This chapter punctuates on the decline of hospitality—at least as it was imagined by ancient philosophers—in a way that the tourist gaze sets the pace to a wicked gaze. Whether hospitality and free transit were the foundational values of West, COVID-19, and the resulted state of emergency reveals a new unknown process of feudalization which comes to stay. The chapter is framed based on long-dormant philosophical debates, but given the complexity of this issue, the efforts deserve our attention.