Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders

This book examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered a new and challenging environment in which borders drawn around people, places, and social structures have hardened and new ones have emerged. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, borders closed or became unwelcoming at the international, national, sub-national, and local levels. Debate persists as to whether those countries and territories that tightly managed their borders, like New Zealand, Australia, or Hong Kong, got it 'right' compared to those that did not. Without doubt, a majority of those who suffered and died throughout the pandemic have been those from vulnerable populations. Yet on the other hand, efforts taken to manage the spread of the disease, such as through border management, have also disproportionately affected those who are most vulnerable. How then is the right balance to be struck, acknowledging, too, the economic and other imperatives that may dissuade governments from taking public health steps? This book considers how international organizations, countries, and institutions within those countries should conceive of, and manage, borders as the world continues to struggle with COVID-19 and prepares for the next pandemic. Engaging a range of international, and sub-national, examples, the book thematizes the main issues at stake in the control and management of borders in the interests of public health. This book will be of considerable interest to academics in the fields of health law, anthropology, economics, history, medicine, public health, and political science, as well as policymakers and public health planners at national and sub-national levels.

Colleen M. Flood is Dean of the Faculty of Law at Queen's University, Canada. Y.Y. Brandon Chen is Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), Canada. Raywat Deonandan is Epidemiologist and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Sam Halabi is Professor at the Georgetown University School of Health and Co-Director of the Center for Transformational Health Law at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Sophie Thériault is Full Professor in the Faculty of Law (Civil Law Section) at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

I. INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Colleen M. Flood, Y.Y. Brandon Chen, Raywat Deonandan, Sam Halabi, and Sophie Thériault II. HISTORIES, CONTESTS, AND COMMUNICATION OF BORDERS AS PUBLIC HEALTH TOOLS 2. The Essential Art of Communication about Balance in Border Closures Raywat Deonandan 3. The Wolf and the Sheepfold: Borders, Containment, and Contested Discourses of Public Health in the Great Influenza Pandemic Era Esyllt Jones 4. Bordering and the Fallacy of Disease Directionality: Ebola, SARS-CoV-2 and Africa's Confidence Deficit with Global Public Health Chidi Oguamanam 5. Towards Reimagining the IHR Article 43 on Travel Restrictions Lisa Forman & Roojin Habibi III. BORDER AND MOBILITY RESTRICTIONS AS PUBLIC HEALTH TOOLS WITHIN REGIONAL AND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES 6. Management of the European Union's (Internal and External) Borders during the COVID-19 Pandemic Tamara Hervey, Alexandra Fyfe & Vincent Delhomme 7. Public Health Evidence for Provincial Border Management Brenda J. Wilson 8. First Nations, COVID-19, and the Implications of Spatial Restrictions in a Settler Colonial Context Eva Ottawa, Florence Robert & Sophie Thériault IV. BORDER MEASURES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 9. Border Controls as Part of Aotearoa New Zealand's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Siouxsie Wiles 10. Borders within Borders within Borders: A Legitimate Approach to Controlling the First Two Years of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Australia Stephen Duckett 11. The United States Response to COVID-19: A Patchwork of Border Regulations Katherine Ginsbach 12. Brazilian Discriminatory Border Control Policy Based on 'Health Restrictions' During COVID-19 Pandemic Fernando Aith V. BORDER CONTROLS, MIGRANTS, AND REFUGEES 13. Pandemic Pathways to Permanent Residence Audrey Mackli 14. Spouses of the Pandemic: Data, Racism, and Mental Health Wei William ("Will") Tao VI. VACCINE PASSPORTS: CIVIL LIBERTIES, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND PUBLIC HEALTH 15. Vaccine Refusals and Freedom of Religion: A Moving Target in a Pandemic Age Carissma Mathen 16. A Brief History of the Science of Vaccine Passports and What the Future Holds Kumanan Wilson 17. Rights Discourse and Canadian Debate Over Vaccine Passports Bryan Thomas 18. Mobility Restrictions, Human Rights, and the Legal Test of Proportionality Jeff King VII. VACCINE PASSPORTS: PRIVACY CLAIMS & TECHNOLOGY FIXES AND FAILURES 19. Pandemic-Fighting Technologies? Lessons from COVID-19 for the Pandemics of the Future Vivek Krishnamurthy & Myka Kollmann 20. Verification Theatre at Borders and in Pockets Michael Veale VIII. BOUNDED VULNERABILITIES: LONG-TERM CARE, PRISONS, PSYCHIATRIC CARE INSTITUTIONS, AND HOMELESSNESS 21. The Paradox of Protecting the Vulnerable: An Analysis of the Canadian Public Discourse on Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic Martine Lagacé, Caroline D. Bergeron, Tracey O'Sullivan, Samantha Oostlander, Pascale Dangoisse, Amélie Doucet & Philippe Rodrigues-Rouleau 22. Of Governmental Priorities, Human Rights, and Social Control: Prison Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Adelina Iftene 23. Extending the Boundaries of the Psychiatric Hospital: The Use and Misuse of Psychiatric Coercion during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Quebec and Ontario Emmanuelle Bernheim 24. Punishing Mobility: Curfews and Homelessness in Quebec during the COVID-19 Pandemic Véronique Fortin & Céline Bellot IX. ACCESS TO SERVICES, CARE, AND MEDICAL NECESSITIES 25. Bodies Across Borders: A History of Cross-Border Travel for Abortion Services in Poland and Canada Christabelle Sethna & Krystyna Dzwonkowska-Godula 26. Borders Drawn Across Bodies: Advocating for Maternal Health in Times of Crisis Sarah J. Lazin 27. Keeping Border Restrictions Light Enough to Travel: A Humanitarian Perspective on Canada's Border Control Measures During COVID-19 Jason Nickerson & Joseph Belliveau 28. "Where You Live Shouldn't Determine Whether You Live": Canada and the Line Between Rhetoric and Reality in Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access Adam R. Houston X. BORDERS, BOUNDARIES, AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL HEALTH LAW 29. Cross-Border Mobility of Persons and Goods during Pandemics: Exposing Normative Duality in International Law Pedro A. Villarreal 30. Modeling Approaches to Borders, Geography and Infectious Diseases David Fisman 31. Advancing a Risk-Based Approach to Border Management during Public Health Emergencies of International Concern Kelley Lee, Julianne Piper & Jennifer Fang 32. Global Health Law: Overcoming the Shortfall in Human Resources Tim G. Evans & Priyanka Saksena 33. Conceptual and Tangible Borders under a Revised International Health Regulations or New International Pandemic Agreement Sam Halabi