Chapter 1: COVID-19 Under The Reign of Neoliberalism: Challenges and Possibilities in the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis unprecedented in our lifetime. As the novel coronavirus (SARS COV-2) spreads around the world and people get infected, lose their livelihoods, experience isolation, and struggle with providing essential needs for themselves and their families, millions are dealing with a heightened sense of fear, uncertainty, and despair. Simultaneously, the social, economic, and public health consequences of this crisis have not affected all countries and communities equally, nor have responses been the same. As discussed by various crisis management experts, how a particular country or community perceives, prepares, and responds to natural or human-made crises/disasters—at the level of policy, institutional practices, and everyday personal behaviors—is shaped by prevailing ideas, values, and priorities that are contextually contingent (e.g., Eriksson, 2017).