As early as April 2020, infectious diseases specialist and Harvard Medical School alumna Monica Gandhi knew that COVID-19 would become endemic — that is, it would never be eradicated. Instead, she argued, it was time to get the virus that causes the disease under control and to learn to live with it. Decades of experience made her an outspoken critic of disruptive COVID policies — particularly the closing of schools — that she said caused more harm than good. Consensus is now emerging to back up many of Gandhi’s once-controversial points.

In her book Endemic: A Post-Pandemic Playbook, Gandhi applies insights from HIV and COVID-19 to outline a ten-point policy rubric for responding to future epidemics. She discusses how policymakers can minimize threats to public health while also mitigating the harms of restrictive policies on children and on marginalized groups.

Check out the full episode of The Written Word from Harvard Medicine magazine at https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/arti...