The Gray Area with Sean Illing A new analysis of the pandemic
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Apr 28, 2025 
Frances E. Lee, a politics professor at Princeton and co-author of In COVID's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, dives into the pandemic's political ramifications. She discusses how political decisions directly influenced public health outcomes and exacerbated inequalities. Lee critiques the partisanship that affected vaccine distribution and decision-making transparency. Highlighting lessons from the pandemic, she emphasizes the need for accountability and honesty among policymakers to rebuild public trust as we navigate future crises.
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Early COVID Policies Lacked Evidence
- Early COVID policies often contradicted pre-pandemic plans and lacked strong scientific evidence.
- Many measures like lockdowns and border closures had poor evidence bases, yet were widely adopted globally.
COVID Exacerbated Social Inequalities
- COVID policies disproportionately harmed working-class and disadvantaged groups.
- These measures worsened existing inequalities in education, healthcare, housing, and economic stability.
Partisan Polarization Shapes Response
- The U.S. pandemic response became strongly polarized along partisan lines.
- Partisanship became the main predictor of policy and individual COVID-related behavior.
