PREFACE Eleven years have passed since the initial 2009 publication of Who’s in Charge? Leadership during Epidemics, Bioterror Attacks, and Other Public Health Crises. In those 11 years, the world has changed. China’s economy has risen to be the second largest in the world, and the country has become a dominant force in international manufacturing. Multinational corporations rely on China as a vital link in global supply chains, producing thousands of products, including important pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.1 In the intervening 11 years, many public health crises, including the 2009 influenza (H1N1) pandemic, the 2012 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus epidemic, the 2013–2016 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, and the 2018–2019 Ebola virus epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, have caused thousands of deaths. While each of these crises provide important leadership and public health lessons, none has had the impact on health care and economic life of the ongoing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). This new virus emerged at the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Prov- ince, China. The virus was named SARS-CoV-2 to reflect its genetic re- lationship to the coronavirus that caused the 2003 SARS pandemic.2 The disease the virus causes is called Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 is the third deadly coronavirus, after the SARS and MERS viruses, to emerge from animals into human populations. Nothing tests a government leader like a deadly pandemic. A pandem- ic is a medical and political crisis that requires an understanding of the complex scientific, public health, and public communication capabilities
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