In the September 2020 Issue of the Quarterly.

Abstract

TheCOVID-19 pandemic remains in full swing across the globe, with the death toll mounting steadily while the search continues for effective vaccines and therapeutics to combat it. Few have been untouched by the epidemic’s rampage—whether having survived its deadly grip, suffered the loss of a loved one, lost one’s source of income, or simply had one’s life turned upside down by the restrictions put in place to stem its spread. COVID-19 pervasively rules the daily news cycle, dominates our thoughts and conversations, and dictates new norms of behavior that challenge and perhaps, at times, rankle our sensibilities. How long it will last is anyone’s guess. Recently, we issued a call for papers about health beyond COVID in three broad areas: improving population health; improving public health infrastructure; and improving health care. Thus far, we have been pleased to receive several thoughtful commentaries and original research articles in all three areas that will directly inform policymakers and policymaking in health and social sectors. The call for papers (https://www.milbank.org/quarterly/call-for-papers/) remains open through December 31, 2020. This issue of the Quarterly opens with two insightful Perspectives related to population health. In “Population Health in the Time of COVID-19: Confirmations and Revelations,” Ana Diez Roux reflects upon the clinical, epidemiologic, and social factors that drive the many visible manifestations of the pandemic in the population. She observes that the pandemic has revealed how we as a society have acted (or have failed to act) to protect our health, and she discusses the challenges and implications for the future, including how the pandemic may yield unanticipated opportunities for population health. She offers several suggestions for how we can change the way we live and how we may create systems and environments that promote health and health equity. In “Well-Being in the Nation: A Living Library of Measures to Drive Multisector Population Health Improvement and Address Social Determinants,” Somava Saha and colleagues describe how the 100 Million Healthier Lives framework facilitated a multisector collaboration to