Seite - 2 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE2 The book, comprising 43 short chapters, is divided into 6 sub- themes: federalism and governance, accountability, civil liberties, equity, labour, and global health. Our approach is one primarily grounded in law, because of the critical nature of law in defining responsibilities, accountability, rights, distribution of wealth, and, indeed, health. We have included other important disciplines, includ- ing ethics, public policy, public health, and medicine. We begin this overview chapter by providing context for the pandemic with facts and figures (including what we do not know), before turning to dis- cuss in more detail how we employ a lens of vulnerability throughout our analysis. Subsequently, for each of our subthemes, we highlight insights emerging from the chapters. We conclude by claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic forces us to reflect deeply on how we are governed and on our policy priorities in order to ensure pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery policies include all of us, not just some or the most privileged of us. Context for a Modern-Day Plague The Emergence of COVID-19 At the time of writing, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-21 has infected people in 213 countries and territories and on every continent except Antarctica.2 As of June 27, 2020, over 495,781 people worldwide3 have died, including the 8,504 people who have died in Canada.4 The true death toll is certainly higher and will continue to rise. The respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2 was initially identified by regional health authorities in China after dozens of peo- ple with similar symptoms were treated in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in December 2019. This made headlines when the World Health 1. “COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic”, online: Worldometer <https://www.worl- dometers.info/coronavirus/>. 2. “COVID-19 Has Infected Every Continent Except Antarctica”, The Times of India (27 February 2020), online: <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/ china/COVID-19-has-infected-every-continent-except-antarctica/articleshow/ 74327535.cms>. 3. “COVID-19 Dashboard” (27 June 2020), online: Centre  for  Systems  Science  and  Engineering  at  Johns  Hopkins  University <https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdash- board/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6>. 4. See dashboard from the Canada Open Data Working Group, “COVID-19 in Canada”, online: Canada  Open  Data  Working  Group <https://art-bd.shinyapps.io/ covid19canada/>.