2020

"The next presidential term will commence exactly one year after the first confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19," Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Polly Price writes for the American Constitution Society. "The U.S. has since recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths and infections in the world. Because an estimated 90 percent of Americans remain vulnerable to infection, the next administration will continue to face the greatest public health threat in more than a century, even if a vaccine does become widely available."

Conflicts over remote work and leave are the most common type of COVID-19 employment litigation in the United States, according to The Atlantic. Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Polly Price was quoted in a story about how to contain COVID-19 until widespread vaccination is achieved. Isolating those who are exposed is effective, but enforcing it is difficult. "We don't really pay people to stay at home to quarantine," Price said.

President Trump's judicial appointments include three judges seated on the influential DC Circuit, Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill. And while a stream of federal judges appointed in the past four years may have bolstered the GOP majority on some courts of appeals, the president's legacy will likely be more limited than commonly assumed, Nash says.

The United States' vigorous protection of Intellectual property drives the innovation "that has made the United States an economic powerhouse," Professor Tim Holbrook writes for Insider Advantage. His op-ed centers on the SK Innovation case expected to be decided this week. LG Chem says SK misappropriated its trade secrets for lithium batteries.

Congress is taking on the tech industry, in response to allegations that once scrappy startups have evolved into monopolies that disregard users' privacy in the pursuit of profit. However, getting courts to enforce antitrust laws can be difficult, some professors say. "If you go into court and you say, 'We ought to break up this company because it has a 100% market share,' but you can't show that they did anything reprehensible to gain that market share, then you're going to lose," Professor Alexander Volokh tells Salon.

Congress' mammoth stimulus bill, the Cares Act, delivered a quick and happy benefit to some energy companies. For pipeline company Antero Midstream, it was a $55 million payment in the form of a tax refund. Congress could have required companies applying for tax breaks to show they needed the cash and to promise that they would not distribute it to shareholders or lay off employees, Professor Dorothy A. Brown tells the Washington Post. Instead, the tax breaks were too broad in their applicability, she said, and "you see corporations taking money and laying off employees."

The nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has generated discussion about the future of Roe v. Wade, Professor Timothy Holbrook writes in a CNN op-ed. However, "Roe is not the only precedent at risk," he writes. "Marriage equality may be too." He discusses recent statements by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas that "make clear that the vitality of Obergefell is in doubt."

Professor Dorothy Brown discusses recent revelations about President Trump's tax records, his businesses and the tax code itself on NPR's "On Point." She was joined by Planet Money's Adam Davidson and Forbes editor Dan Alexander.

While the scandal surrounding the release of President Donald Trump's tax returns may reveal some unflattering things about his business practices, it's also an indictment of the tax code, Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown tells Vox. "The real wealthy don't save money on taxes by losing money and generating losses. The true wealthy in America have their wealth in investments that are taxed at a preferential rate. They build wealth with the help of federal tax policy, which taxes them less," Brown said.

This week the U.S. Supreme Court sent a pension case back to a California appeals court, which is likely to make fiscal hawks unhappy, the Marin Independent Journal reports. It is based on the so-called “California rule” which prevents state agencies from cutting retirement benefits without providing employees with comparable pension compensation. Earlier rulings in two other cases strongly affirmed the California rule, both with unanimous votes. "I think for sure the Supreme Court is not interested in rethinking the California rule in any global way." Professor Alexander Volokh said.

If President Donald Trump succeeds in seating a third Supreme Court justice, it would be the most for any president since Richard Nixon, and could create a distinct shift toward conservatism, Professor Robert Schapiro told Newsy. Nixon saw four nominees confirmed during his first term. "Having really a staunch member of the liberal side of the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, replaced by a president who [has] a very different perspective ... could really shift the court significantly in a more conservative direction," Schapiro said.

Could the battle over replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court affect some tight Georgia races in this election? Professor Fred Smith Jr. joined a panel on "Political Rewind" to discuss specific races and cases that could sway how Georgia voters cast their ballots.

A company that has called infringement for what it claims is patented contract tracing software likely faces a tough road to proving it, says Emory Law Professor Timothy Holbrook. Blyncsy seeks the equivalent of $1 per resident from states that have released or plan to release contact tracing apps. One of its 2019 patents describes ways to track "contagion" using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals. "It was a little bit shocking that a patent of this breadth managed to get out," Holbrook said. While it refers to an abstract idea of tracking proximity, the patent doesn't include many specifics on implementation beyond common methods like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. "Even dating apps rely on a similar concept," Holbrook said.

The death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT killed by Louisville police in March, has created a nationwide push to stop no-knock warrants, Center Square reports. Professor Kay Levine says empirical data shows judges who review requests for those warrants typically don't invest a lot of time before granting them. "There is a very common perception, and it is empirically supported that magistrates take about two or three minutes to review warrant applications before signing off," Levine said.

Connecticut will begin issuing $100 fines to those who refuse to wear masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, NBC news reports. Professor Polly Price says the fines could be effective in much the same way speeding tickets encourage people to slow down. However, she was dubious on whether it is a "good use of police time." It may be more effective for businesses to adapt a policy on masks similar to the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" concept.

"While polls show that the majority of Americans are now sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement, many are skeptical of calls to defund police,” say the hosts of Political Rewind. Associate Professor Fred Smith joined a panel that included a political writer, mayor, and a human rights attorney, to discuss what defunding the police would mean in Georgia.

The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services dissolved its child abuse registry after four years. Officials say the database made it more difficult to accurately track and punish abusers. However, cases are still tracked via the SHINES Portal, the statewide, automated child welfare information system. Barton Child Law and Policy Center Executive Director Melissa Carter tells the AJC why the dissolution was prudent.

Professor Liza Vertinsky joined two other law professors in an op-ed that criticizes the FDA's recent announcement that it would authorize emergency use of investigational convalescent plasma as a treatment for COVID-19. They question whether the decision reflected extreme political pressure and a departure from evidence-based standards.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown joined Bloomberg News to discuss the capital gains tax cut proposed by President Trump. That would benefit the richest citizens, not the middle class, she said. A more equitable solution? "Go back to the Reagan Tax Reform Act of 1986, believe it or not, where wages were taxed at the same income level, the same rate as gains from stock," she said. "That's the only right answer. There's absolutely no justification for giving a special break to capital that we don’t give to labor."

Regardless of race, most crime victims and perpetrators are of the same race, so public figures talking about "black on black" crime after police brutality isn't relevant, Professor Dorothy Brown tells 11Alive News. The latter is state-sanctioned and often occurs in communities that are over-policed, she said. "It's not again that violent crime isn't serious, of course it's serious, but, I should be able to walk down this street and not be murdered by police. Period, full stop," Brown said. "And anyone who tries to change the subject is really telling me, you don’t care about black lives."

A Georgia couple took a fan photo of Cam Newton that was later used to create a fake scenario (retweeted by ESPN and others) about the quarterback joining the Patriots. They felt wronged. Professors Tim Holbrook and Nicole Morris, both experts in IP, tell Fox 5 about one’s options when your social media posts are appropriated.

Professor Dorothy Brown is quoted in the New York Times on Elizabeth Warren's research on race and economics, including when Senator Warren spoke at Brown's 2004 symposium on critical race theory. She recalled Warren had spoken about how Black college graduates were more likely to file for bankruptcy, because of the student debt they carried. "When she presented, she freaked everybody out with her research," Brown said. "She blew us all away."

In his remarks at the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis' funeral, former President Barack Obama acknowledged his own accomplishments were made possible by standing on the congressman's shoulders, Professor Dorothy Brown writes in an opinion article for CNN. Lewis showed extraordinary courage the day he boarded a bus with a friend in 1960, Obama said. "Imagine the courage of two people Malia's age--younger than my oldest daughter--on their own to challenge an entire infrastructure of oppression." Lewis has passed the baton to protect voting rights to us, Brown says.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling that the DACA program could not be dismantled, the Department of Homeland Security said on July 28 that it will deny all first-time applicants. Professor Polly Price tells the Orlando Sentinel that the Trump administration could try again to legally end DACA, which benefits about 700,000 immigrants nationwide, but the program's terms can’t be modified in the meantime. "Until that is done, there's absolutely no authority and support for this proposition that [DHS] cannot accept new applications," she said. “This is a violation of those court rulings."

Federal agents in camouflage and tactical gear have used tear gas, flash bangs and physical force to clear crowds of protesters in Portland, Deseret News reports. “I think this kind of large-scale federal intervention without the request of state and local authorities is extremely unusual,” said Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Robert Schapiro. “So the fact there are allegations that federal authorities are violating the constitution is serious.”

Gov. Brian Kemp has sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and challenged restrictions she implemented, which include an ordinance mandating residents wear masks to help stem the spread of COVID-19. It's part of a growing clash between the governor and municipalities over who has authority over how the state handles the ongoing pandemic. Kemp may not win an injunction unless he can meet standard of "irreparable harm," Professor Polly Price tells TIME magazine.

While Black Lives Matters murals may go viral, they don't improve schools, raise minimum wage, create jobs or "stop the next murder of a Mr. Floyd," Professor Dorothy Brown tells Yahoo. "They don't do anything that would root out the systemic racism that’s holding Black Americans behind."

Associate Professor Fred Smith Jr. was invited to WABE’s "Political Rewind" to discuss Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's executive order that says cities may not pass laws requiring the public to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kemp later said mask mandates were unenforceable and ineffective. "From a legal perspective, he picked literally the weakest case," Smith said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to sue Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms over her announcement to enforce wearing masks in public demonstrates he doesn’t care about Black citizens, who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN.

Professor Polly Price criticized Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's recent lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms. It challenges her order requiring Atlantans to wear masks in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kemp has previously barred local governments from taking more restrictive steps than the state, but on Wednesday he explicitly banned cities and counties from requiring face coverings. Price says it's unlikely Kemp's order would stand up in court. "But rather than force the question, why not allow local decision-making, as Texas has done, rather than waste time and resources engaging in litigation?" Price told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Professor Polly Price spoke with Dan Abrams on how face coverings work to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's order that says municipalities can't pass laws requiring them in public. "The Governor of Georgia does not have authority to override local face mask requirements," Price tweeted. "Do the right thing."

"Plagues in the Nation" is a narrative history of America through major outbreaks, one that examines how law and government affected the outcome of the epidemics that struck America, and how those outbreaks have in turn shaped our government. Professor Polly Price's book examines efforts to control COVID-19 and also, the panic that resulted when Ebola arrived in n America.

A massive new study of more than 10 years and 118 million tax assessments found Black homeowners pay, on average, 10 to 13% more in property taxes each year than a white family in the same situation. Black-owned homes were usually assessed at higher values, relative to their actual sale price, than white-owned homes. "Homeownership in America has always been about race and who could buy a home has always been a function of racism," Professor Dorothy Brown tells WAMU 88.5.

As Congress debates whether and when to send a second round of stimulus checks to offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Republican lawmakers have proposed dropping the income standard below the previous one of $75,000. "To the extent they make it a lower income cutoff than the last time, it will hurt more people," Professor Dorothy Brown told the Washington Post, noting that many Americans will face the lifting of eviction moratorium. "This will have drastic human consequences."

Professor Dorothy Brown discusses critical race theory, systemic racism, over-policing in black communities and "the disparate impact of the law on Black America," with Mohamed Younis, editor-in-chief of Gallup's digital news team. The podcast discusses how systemic racism affects U.S. courts and workplaces. "The easy answer is that the law is not colorblind in America," Brown says.

As states try to enforce 14-day #COVID-19 quarantines for travelers from areas where the coronavirus rate is spiking, Professor Polly Price says such pronouncements bump up against U.S. citizens' constitutional right to travel from one state to another. "No state can prevent you from coming in," Price tells NBC news. "What these states are doing is imposing conditions on that travel. When it goes from 'we're going to request that you self-quarantine for a period of time' to 'we're going to arrest you or fine you if you don't,' that's when constitutional issues become tricky."

Corporate America has responded to nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd with a wave of public statements condemning racism, or by contributing financially to support to Black Lives Matter. But there's an underlying assumption, Professor Dorothy Brown tells Marker, that failing to make promised changes around race gets a pass--unlike failing to make promised changes around revenue or profits. CEO payouts or bonuses could be tied to keeping those promises. "Some CEO needs to lose their job because they failed at this," Brown said. "Make CEO pay dependent upon Black employee lives mattering."

Despite the Supreme Court's decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, it could take a court order to force the government to resume processing new DACA applications, Professor Polly Price tells WABE. Since the Trump administration attempted to end the program in 2017, only people who were already enrolled have been able to remain in America legally and no new applicants have been accepted. So one questions is, "does this mean the DHS has to accept new applicants? It's not clear that's the case," Price says.

Professor Timothy Holbrook was among several Georgia attorneys asked by the Daily Report to comment on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that extended workplace discrimination protections to the LGBTQ community. "My initial reaction is surprise both at the outcome and at the vote. I thought the court would reject protections for the LBGT community," Holbrook said. "We now have national, non-discrimination protection for LBGTQ persons. It has always been the concern that our protections were patchwork depending on the states and cities. That’s no longer the case."

In an essay for Foreign Affairs, Professor Mary L. Dudziak views the current Black Lives Matter protests, and the world's shocked response to George Floyd's killing through the lens of the Civil Rights protests in the 1960s. "And as they did then, U.S. foreign policy leaders today have looked at the global response and considered the effect of the crisis on U.S. foreign relations--worrying that the protests and violent police response, coming on top of the United States' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, threaten to undermine American strength in the world,” Dudziak writes.

Most of the large monuments that revere Confederate leaders began to appear in the early 20th century, long after the Civil War ended in 1865, Professor George Shepherd writes for CNN Opinion. "The goal was not to preserve 'Southern heritage,' as the monuments' defenders now claim," he writes. "Instead, the goal was to install white-supremacist icons that would intimidate African Americans and enforce whites' supremacy."

Mary of the companies now expressing solidarity with black businesses and anti-discrimination have contributed to systemic inequality through their products as well as their hiring and compensation practices, the New York Times reports. "Most of these corporate statements were put together by the marketing team that was trying not to offend white customers and white employees," said Professor Dorothy A. Brown. "It’s complete B.S. It’s performative."

An appeal filed in the D.C. Court of Appeals argues the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing of a proposed New Mexico facility would violate federal law, Energywire reports. It flouts the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act due to the facility's potential reliance on the Department of Energy as its main customer. "This NRC decision flagrantly violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits an agency from acting contrary to the law as issued by Congress and signed by the president," said Turner Environmental Law Clinic Director Mindy Goldstein, who also represents Beyond Nuclear.

Mindy Goldstein represents Beyond Nuclear, a group that has challenged the interim storage of nuclear waste at a site in New Mexico. The group filed an appeal in federal court that asks for review of an NRC decision that Goldstein says violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. "Agencies have to work with what Congress gave (them)," Goldstein tells the Albuquerque Journal. "We feel NRC is stepping around that requirement. Congress has said that DOE can't own this waste." Goldstein is director of Emory Law's Turner Environmental Law Clinic. (subscription required)

Professor Dorothy A. Brown talks with Yahoo News about how both the trauma of George Floyd's death and the disproportionate deaths of black people caused by COVID19 are affecting the mental health of the black community.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary L. Dudziak writes in the New York Times on the damage President Trump has done to U.S. international relations by using federal troops to squelch protests around the country.

In an opinion article for CNN, Professor Dorothy A. Brown says the day George Floyd died is when police reform became possible. "Yet none of this would have happened without the bravery of a teenager--17-year-old Darnella Frazier (who filmed the police actions that led to Floyd's death). "The nation owes her a debt of gratitude. Also, June 2 will be recalled as the day George W. Bush got on the right side of history, Brown says, by making a public statement which included: "Achieving justice for all is the duty of all."

Professor Polly Price and her research assistant Patrick Diaz 22L examined how state governments required and enforced the wearing of face masks during public health crises in the history of the United States, in an essay published by the American Constitution Society.

Professor Dorothy A. Brown talked with "Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal about the longstanding economic divide for black Americans and its relationship to current protests. While not the immediate instigating factor, Brown says there's a direct line between the two. "When we think about state and local government budgets and how much of taxpayer dollars, including black taxpayer dollars, that are spent on policing as opposed to social programs, yes, there's a direct line."

As governors balance protecting public health against individual liberties, federal lawsuits are stacking up, including an estimated 240 based on civil rights, USA Today reports. Emory Law Professor Polly Price notes the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Pennsylvania case that challenged a governor's order to close nonessential businesses. But given the impact of the virus on public health issues, "I tend to think there will be some new law made only because there are new scenarios that courts haven’t encountered before," she said.

The rush to collaborate on vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 may lead researchers to overlook precautions they normally would take concerning ownership of intellectual property, Bloomberg Law reports. Associate Professor Liza Vertinsky agrees. "When you're doing things quickly in response to an emergency, all the problems you normally have in collaborations get worse."

In 2017, Emory Law Professor Polly Price was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Building on her interest in writing on how governments confront contagious diseases, she did research at the U.S./Mexico border with the CDC and public health departments, which will inform her upcoming book, Plagues in the Nation.

Professor Richard Freer discusses his career and passion for helping students reach their potential.

Resistance to wearing masks to prevent spread of the coronavirus is a very American phenomenon, the BBC reports. Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Polly Price explains the backlash.

Are there COVID-19 lessons to learn from the dramatic changes to society that defined World War II? In a BBC Future article, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary L. Dudziak says a pandemic is not a war.

This month, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said an application to store "a massive quantity of highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel" in southeastern New Mexico violates federal regulations, KRWG reports. But the commission ruled that the unlawful provisions of the license application could be ignored and would not bar approval. Turner Environmental Clinic Director Mindy Goldstein represented Beyond Nuclear, a nonprofit which opposed the application. "The NRC's decision flagrantly violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act," she said, adding the commission lacked a "legal or logical basis for its rationale."

Professor Polly Price says President Trump's statement that he has total authority to declare states open for business isn't correct. "Congress could conceivably legislate to override state control of commerce, but not the president by himself," she told the Dallas Morning News, for a story concerning restarting commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some rural Americans see the corona virus as a distant, perhaps overblown, crisis. But as cases climb across the U.S. we should recall our constitutional duties “include not endangering others,” Professor Polly Price tells the Christian Science Monitor.

The farm-to-table movement, which provides restaurants with locally grown, high-quality produce generated $12 billion last year for small-scale producers including cheesemakers and vintners. But as restaurants have shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, small farms are in trouble. "I was getting calls as soon we went into lockdown," Mindy Goldstein, director of the Turner Environmental Law Center, told the New York Times. "The question is how do we get these folks any form of market."

Although it may seem logical for the the president to announce the entire country should go into lockdown, the legalities aren't that simple, Professor Polly Price tells CNN.

As more states start to issue stay-at-home orders, rumors have spread that the country is under a lockdown, something the Federal Emergency Management Agency has debunked on its website. Professor Polly Price tells NPR any such power lies with the states. "If you're talking about quarantine in terms of encouraging people to stay home or closing businesses ... I think from the White House that can be advisory only and that those are exclusively state powers."

Professor Polly Price, who's writing a book on epidemics, tells WABE 90.1 what policies made a difference in the 1918 pandemic--globally and here in Georgia.

While President Trump says he wants the country "opened up and raring to go" by Easter, that decision will largely be made by governors. "State and local governments’ primary obligation, their primary responsibility, is the health of their populations," Professor Polly Price told Time magazine. The success of social distancing already relies mostly on the honor system she says. But mixed messaging from federal state or local politicians could lead people to ignore social distancing guidelines altogether.

"The U.S. legal system has been here before--just over a century ago, during the pandemic influenza of 1918–1919, the most severe pandemic in recent history," Professor Polly Price writes in an essay for The Atlantic. "Then, too, public officials faced constraints on their knowledge, authority, and capacity to deal with the crisis. The result was a patchwork approach that radically, if temporarily, changed American life."

As part of the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution series, Professor Polly Price talks with host Jeffrey Rosen and Professor Ed Richards about what powers local, state, and federal governments have to manage a public health crisis and the legal and constitutional rights Americans maintain.

This weekend, governors varied widely on their COVID-19 stances: some took measures to shut down restaurants and bars, while others tweeted about being in public and "supporting local businesses." Because of federalism issues, the White House can't do much to force closures, said Professor Polly Price. But the CDC can model responsible action, she said. "The strong direction of the CDC is really helpful here because these are very unpopular decisions--and brave decisions, as far as I'm concerned--to close down public gathering," she said. "To the extent that they need political cover for doing so, if the CDC is giving them this advice, that could give them legal cover."

Health officials nationwide are gauging how to enforce quarantine, and what to do when people don't follow those rules. Right now, it's pretty much the honor system, Professor Polly Price tells the Wall Street Journal. "Public-health people themselves can't arrest someone or force them to stay somewhere, and they try to use that as an absolute last resort."

Most of the thousands of Americans currently under quarantine are at home, but what about the homeless? Professor Polly Price tells CityLab that urban centers with large homeless populations are likely already considering how to humanely handle a shelter outbreak.

"In this untraditional era, Mr. Trump has ignored decades of ethical norms. But is it a good idea for Justice Ginsburg to follow his lead?" Professor Michael Broyde writes for the Wall Street Journal on why Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse herself. "Unlike Sotomayor, she has shown bias against Trump by publicly characterizing him as unfit for office," the opinion piece says.

Costa Mesa's attempt to block state plans to house coronavirus patients there presents a rare legal question, the New York Times reports. "This is a new one in terms of claiming a right not to have infectious disease introduced into your community," said Emory Law Professor Polly Price. Although cities and towns once claimed "an absolute right" to guard against disease, she said, state-level control over isolation and quarantine has been the norm for more than a century.

While the U.S. has quarantine "stations" in 20 cities, they're not designed for long-term stays and monitoring, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Federal and state health officials sought to move coronavirus patients to Costa Mesa's 125-acre Fairview Developmental Center, a state-owned facility for people with mental disabilities, which is now empty. "Governments don't keep quarantine facilities readily available," said Emory Law Professor Polly Price. "We don't, as a general rule, have facilities just waiting around just to be used for rarely needed quarantines." State and federal official say by refusing to accept the quarantine, Costa Mesa could threaten the health of the rest of the nation.

A federal judge directed federal and state officials to answer the questions of Costa Mesa, California, residents about plans to bring Americans who have tested positive for the coronavirus to a closed ­mental-health facility in the city, the Washington Post reports. But the judge also cautioned that the city does not have veto power over state and federal quarantine decisions. Emory Law Professor Polly Price agrees. "There isn’t really a federal order to challenge here because the key fact was that California's state public health department . . . they're in complete control."

A coronavirus quarantine in the U.S. could be difficult, Professor Polly Price writes for The Atlantic. Except at the nation's borders, the federal government isn't in charge. Our defense against epidemic is divided among 2,684 state, local and tribal public-health departments.

"The 2020 Democratic field does not appear to have learned much from the 2008 and 2016 elections," Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. Russian interference in the 2016 election capitalized on our racial divide, she says. The upheaval that followed Barack Obama's election "allows anyone paying attention to see that we have not turned a corner when it comes to racism… Will we turn Trump's election into an opportunity to tackle racism head-on, or remain in our comfort zones? I know one thing: Russia will be watching," she writes.

The Trump administration decision to bar entry to foreigners coming from China won't stop the coronavirus from entering the US, experts tell VOA News. "It is true that the fewer people who potentially carry the virus who come into an area, the less likelihood of further spread," said Emory Law Professor Polly Price, a public health expert. "But, of course, we already know it's in the United States."

In seeking ways to contain the coronavirus, U.S. health officials and politicians no doubt are recalling the 2014 Ebola cases. "It was never a huge threat in the U.S., but it caused a huge panic," Professor Polly Price tells STAT. In Dallas, where the first U.S. case of Ebola was detected, immediate family members of the patient and the two nurses who took care of him were quarantined in their homes, but larger measures, including shutting down transit and school closures, were proposed but never ordered. "They worked through that nicely," Price said.

The CDC is requiring U.S. citizens returning from mainland China to undergo proactive health screenings at ports of entry and spend up to 14 days in self-quarantine--an action it hasn't taken for more than 50 years. While "isolation" refers to separating someone who is already sick, or is believed to be, from healthy people, "quarantine" is used for isolating people that are not yet sick and may never get sick but may have been exposed to something contagious, Professor Polly Price tells ABC News.