ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces social work in health emergencies and discusses key public health concepts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the science and the language of public health and being able to communicate these understandings at all ecological levels are key to practising public health social work. In this chapter, Jonathan Dickens offers insights into the impact of COVID-19 in different welfare regimes and a model of state responses, the implications of which play out alongside pandemic politics and offer clarity to the compelling global story of practice and innovation depicted in this book.
