Pandemic Spotlight

Eminent CBC journalist Ian Hanomansing profiles the Canadian doctors who stepped up to guide the nation through its worst medical crisis in a century. Most medical doctors, are accustomed to living lives of quiet dedication far from the public eye. What is it like for conscientious professionals like them when a country panicked by pandemic is suddenly beating down their doors desperate for answers? One of the remarkable features of the Covid-19 pandemic is the strength and compassion of the previously low-profile doctors who took to the public stage to lead the bewildered nation through the pandemic, counteracting misinformation and articulating the most up-to-date medical advice on avoiding infection and reducing viral transmission. British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry attracted international attention for her calm, empathetic and evidence-based approach. Ontario infectious disease specialists Dr. Zain Chagla and Dr. Sumon Chakrabati advocated passionately for effective measures within the South Asian community disproportionately affected by the virus. Dr. Lisa Barrett and her infectious disease colleagues at Dalhousie University lobbied to set up rapid testing in places like bars, sports centres and university campuses in order to detect those unwittingly spreading the virus and to provide an early warning of potential outbreaks. Hanomansing captures the perspective and insights of doctors from coast to coast who accepted roles as public advocates and advisors, exploring the impact of unaccustomed celebrity as well as the skepticism, resistance and even hostility that sometimes went as far as death threats from Covid-deniers. Few of the stories to come out of the pandemic are as inspiring as this one of the doctors, scientists and health officials who transcended their accustomed roles to become public symbols of trust and hope. As they prepare to return to their private careers, they respond to Hanomansing’s invitation to detail lessons learned and measures that need to be taken to improve the response to future deadly pandemics. All author royalties from sales of the book will go to UBC’s Centre for Health Education Scholarship.

CBC journalist Ian Hanomansing profiles Canadian infectious disease doctors who stepped up to guide the nation through its worst medical crisis in a century. Canadians who have followed the news about the COVID-19 pandemic will recognize the names of doctors Lisa Barrett, Isaac Bogoch, Zain Chagla, Sumon Chakrabarti, Susy Hota, Fatima Kakkar, Srinivas Murthy, Lynora Saxinger and Alexander Wong--nine remarkable Canadians who found themselves in the spotlight during a remarkably challenging year. While dealing with their own personal concerns about the worsening pandemic and their busy medical practices, the doctors profiled in Pandemic Spotlight volunteered their time and offered their expertise in hundreds of media interviews, providing calm, clear and independent analysis. Hanomansing talks to them about what inspired them to become doctors and what led them to specialize in infectious diseases and then take on this very public role. The doctors discuss the moment the pandemic became very real to them and speak candidly about what it was like when infections raged out of control in Italy and then New York City, leaving doctors at Canadian hospitals to wonder what might be next. And they explain the sense of duty they felt to step into the media glare, even as public anxiety and skepticism sometimes turned into hostility and social media made them easy to contact and, sometimes, easy targets. And for anyone who's been asked to offer their expertise to the media, they have advice on how to answer the call. There are a few silver linings in the COVID storm. One of them is how these doctors put science front and centre and became public symbols of trust and hope. As they prepare to return to their private careers, they respond to Hanomansing's invitation to reflect on lessons learned and their concerns about the next pandemic. All author royalties from sales of the book will go to UBC's Centre for Health Education Scholarship.

Populism is on the rise across the globe. Authoritarian populist leaders have taken over and solidified their control over many countries. Their power has been cemented during the global coronavirus pandemic, though perhaps the defeat of populist-in-chief Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election (despite his continuing protestations to the contrary) has seen the start of the waning of this phenomenon? In the UK Brexit is 'done'; Britain is firmly out of the EU; Covid is vaccinated against; and Boris Johnson has a huge parliamentary majority and, despite never-ending problems, of his own and others' making, his grip on power with a parliamentary majority of more than 80, still seems secure. Meanwhile culture wars continue to rage. How has media, worldwide, contributed, fulled or fought this populism. Cheerleaders? Critics? Supplicants? This book examines those questions in 360 degrees with a distinguished cast of authors from journalism and academia.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection, their biology and associated challenges for their treatment and prevention of novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Discussing various aspects of COVID-19 infection, including global epidemiology, genome organization, immunopathogenesis, transmission cycle, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control strategies, it highlights host-pathogen interactions, host immune response, and pathogen immune invasion strategies toward developing an immune intervention or preventive vaccine for COVID-19. An understanding of the topics covered in the book is imperative in the context of designing strategies to protect the human race from further losses and harm due to SARS-CoV-2 infection causing COVID-19.

Written by a leading expert in the field, this book analyses the complex relations between the European Union (EU) as a regional organization and the United Nations (UN) as an international, global governance institution. The book explores how collaboration between the EU and the UN has evolved and how the two entities collaborate both structurally and in day-to-day work. It shows how the EU acts within institutions such as the United Nations General Assembly and how UN agencies, funds and entities, such as UNHRC, UNICEF and UN Women, interact with the EU and its member states. Through its analysis, the book demonstrates how, despite recent criticism, patterns of multilateralism and cooperation between regional and international institutions can be central to stable patterns of rules-based regional and global governance.

To fully understand contemporary security studies, we must move beyond the traditional focus on major national powers and big wars. Modern threats to security include issues such as globalization, climate change, pandemic diseases, endemic poverty, weak and failing states, transnational narcotics trafficking, piracy, and vulnerable information systems. Human Security in a Borderless World offers a fresh, detailed examination of these challenges that threaten human beings, their societies, and their governments today. Authors Derek S. Reveron and Kathleen A. Mahoney-Norris provide a thought-provoking exploration of civic, economic, environmental, maritime, health, and cyber security issues in this era of globalization, including thorough consideration of the policy implications for the United States. They argue that human security is now national security. This timely and engaging book is an essential text for today's courses on security studies, foreign policy, international relations, and global issues. Features include three special sections in each chapter that explain potential counterarguments about the topic under consideration; explore the policy debates that dominate the area of study; and illuminate concrete examples of security threats. Richly illustrated and accessibly written, Human Security in a Borderless World is designed to encourage critical thinking and bring the material to life for students.

The year 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic marked a huge change globally, both in working and home environments. They posed major challenges for organisations around the world, which were forced to use technological tools to help employees work remotely, while in self-isolation and/or total lockdown. Though the positive outcomes of using these technologies are clear, doing so also comes with its fair share of potential issues, including risks regarding data and its use, such as privacy, transparency, exploitation and ownership. COVID-19 also led to a certain amount of paranoia, and the widespread uncertainty and fear of change represented a golden opportunity for threat actors. This book discusses and explains innovative technologies such as blockchain and methods to defend from Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), some of the key legal and ethical data challenges to data privacy and security presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and their potential consequences. It then turns to improved decision making in cyber security, also known as cyber situational awareness, by analysing security events and comparing data mining techniques, specifically classification techniques, when applied to cyber security data. In addition, the book illustrates the importance of cyber security, particularly information integrity and surveillance, in dealing with an on-going, infectious crisis. Aspects addressed range from the spread of misinformation, which can lead people to actively work against measures designed to ensure public safety and minimise the spread of the virus, to concerns over the approaches taken to monitor, track, trace and isolate infectious cases through the use of technology. In closing, the book considers the legal, social and ethical cyber and information security implications of the pandemic and responses to it from the perspectives of confidentiality, integrity and availability.