Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA highlights the lack of preparedness for COVID-19 on the part of the US government and its health care system, despite the country having the highest rating in global health security.

“I fear that history will repeat itself and once COVID-19 is behind us, people will be lulled into complacency again,” Wafaa El-Sadr, a Columbia University epidemiologist who focuses on health systems, told me over email recently. “The US had the highest rating in terms of [global health security], yet our performance has been disappointing, if not shocking. Our lack of preparedness was catastrophic.”