Post & Courier attended IMPH's press conference announcing their new report: Lessons Learned from COVID-19: Contagious Disease Outbreak Planning and Response in South Carolina.

In their editorial, the Post and Courier endorsed the importance of the work and emphasized why business, government and nonprofit leaders should take a close look at the report that was compiled by the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health and shaped by 80 experts across South Carolina and North Carolina.

“At a time when many thought the pandemic would have ended or transitioned to an endemic disease, it remains a continuous source of death and illness, despite the tireless work and commitment of millions of people around the world,” the report concludes. “This collective trauma has hastened pandemic fatigue, leading to a diminished willingness to studiously evaluate the daily challenges and successes associated with protecting communities from the pandemic.” In other words, there is an understandable reluctance to revisit the past 2½ years — particularly since the pandemic remains with us, albeit in an altered form — but our communities and state will emerge stronger if we do.

Read the full article by the Post & Courier editorial staff here.