Doing More With Less: State Public Health Emergency Powers Post-Pandemic

Authors

Kelly J. DeereFollow

Document Type

Symposium Article

Abstract

Three years after COVID-19 arrived in the United States, many governors and public health officials are equipped with fewer—not more—public health emergency powers than at the start of the pandemic. This may seem counterintuitive, considering that this virus has killed more than 1.1 million Americans and counting. While public health emergency powers were stripped on the federal, state, and local level, this loss is most acutely felt at the state executive level. Some state legislatures passed laws banning state and local governments from implementing a mask or vaccine mandate, while others amended their state emergency disaster statutes to limit the scope and duration of these powers. With these powers stripped from the states’ executive branches, what are governors and public health officials to do when the next public health crisis comes their way? This Article discusses how these officials can maximize the public health emergency powers that remain at their disposal. This Article further explores other avenues a state’s executive branch may use to manage a public health emergency aside from those powers in a state disaster or public health emergency statute.

Recommended Citation

Kelly J. Deere, Doing More With Less: State Public Health Emergency Powers Post-Pandemic, 17 St. Louis U. J. Health L. & Pol'y (2024).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/jhlp/vol17/iss1/6