Editor’s Note: This post is part of Village14’s ongoing series allowing 1 column from each candidate for Congress in the 4th District. – Bryan

| Newton MA News and Politics BlogFor a mom of three young kids, there is never a good time to run for office. But we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and our federal government’s response has been disastrous. We need public health leaders to step up. As an epidemiologist and public servant who has worked with and in governments at the global and local levels for fifteen years, I have the skills and leadership experience to get us through this crisis and beyond.

COVID-19 has touched every corner of our District. Our neighbors have lost friends and family and tragically were unable to say goodbye in person. Many have recently found themselves without income or health insurance, and for communities that were already struggling, the future is daunting. And yet, more than six months later, the federal government still doesn’t have an adequate plan to protect us while preventing the collapse of our economy.

I joined this race because I realized that our health—our physical, mental, economic, and planetary health—can’t wait for politicians to listen to scientists. We must elect them. The next Congress will be making decisions that will change our lives. How should we roll out a vaccine? What financial resources do our schools and our workers need? And what systems do we need to ensure that this never happens again? These questions can only be answered by looking at the science and data, and through a commitment to equity.

In my COVID-19 Plan, I outline the difficult trade-offs we’re going to have to face. For example, I see schools and child care centers as fundamental to our economy and recovery, and believe that we must do everything we can to support schools in reopening safely. As a working mom of three young kids, I know remote learning will be impossible for them and for me. But to make reopening possible and safe for teachers, staff, and students, we must lower our community risk now. This means restricting indoor activities that require mask removal, such as indoor dining at restaurants, and reinstating restrictions on gyms, museums, movie theaters, casinos, and other indoor spaces where people spend significant amounts of time and are therefore at greater risk of contracting the virus.

It is clear that this crisis will not resolve itself in the next few months, and the direct and indirect impacts on people’s health, their livelihoods, the economy, and even human rights will be felt for years. We cannot simply “go back to normal,” and we shouldn’t. Systemic racism and raging inequalities have caused this pandemic to hit our country harder than peer wealthy countries. We now have an opportunity to re-imagine what kind of society we want to live in and to rebuild our economy and our country with one guiding principle: it must work for everyone. And it must work for our planet.

Our fight for climate action cannot be put on hold because of COVID-19. At the United Nations, I led the portfolio on environmental degradation, climate change and health and know that the health of our district goes hand in hand with the health of our planet. Human-driven environmental change is a major contributor of the increased emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, Zika, SARS and MERS, which account for 75% of new infectious diseases. We must align our pandemic response and recovery dollars with the Green New Deal, creating new green jobs and opportunities.  And rather than arguing about the cost of these initiatives, let’s finally start talking about the cost of inaction.

Our coalition to add a voice for science to Congress is growing. I hope you will join us! I’m grateful for my endorsements from Nicholas Burns, the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, former New York City Health Commissioner, and more than 200 health professionals and community leaders from across our District – from Newton to Fall River. If you believe that a voice for science must be at the table, vote for Dr. Natalia Linos on or before the September 1 primary.

Natalia Linos is an epidemiologist and a candidate for Congress in Massachusetts’ 4th District. She is also the Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She previously served in senior leadership roles at the United Nations and United Nations Development Programme, and as a Science Advisor to the New York City Health Commissioner. She lives in Brookline with her husband Paul and three children. You can find out more at nataliaforcongress.com, on Facebook @nataliaforcongress, Instagram @natalialinos, and Twitter @DrNataliaLinos, or join Natalia’s “Ask Me Anything” sessions weekdays at noon via mobilize.us/nataliaforcongress/