Seite - 1 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

INTRODUCTION Overview of COVID-19: Old and New Vulnerabilities* Colleen M. Flood, Vanessa MacDonnell, Jane Philpott, Sophie Thériault, and Sridhar Venkatapuram Within the span of a few months, a new virus named SARS-CoV-2 (which causes the disease COVID-19) has altered the course of nations and the world. Indeed, it is difficult to process all the rapid and sweeping changes to our lives, social interactions, government functioning, and global relations that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused. But the devastation it has and is producing, and the unequal distribution of harms within and across countries, demands global responses to pandemic control that prioritize equity. It is for this reason that in April 2020 we embarked on a collaborative effort with 69 authors to better understand the impact the pandemic is having on Canada and the world. This edited collection is the result of that collaboration. More than anything, this volume docu- ments the vulnerabilities and interconnectedness made visible by the pandemic and the legal, ethical, and policy responses to it. These include vulnerabilities for people who have been harmed or will be harmed by the virus directly and those neglected or harmed by mea- sures taken to slow its relentless march; vulnerabilities exposed in our institutions, governance, and legal structures; and vulnerabilities in other countries and at the global level where persistent injustices harm us all. * We are grateful to Bryan Thomas, Stephen Bindman, and the peer reviewers for excellent comments on this introduction. We also thank Kelli White and Arianne Kent for their superb research assistance.