Abstract:
The global response to COVID-19 has invoked the
familiar refrain “back to basics” with respect to basic
control strategies such as quarantining and isolation,
handwashing, and social distancing. The pandemic
has already revealed stark structural challenges to the
health care and governance systems of many high-income
nations. As of March 2020, we have only seen a glimpse of how COVID-19 may affect low- and middleincome
nations that have even fewer material resources. In this context – particularly in high-density urban
areas that are potential epicenters of transmission – perhaps no other single factor will impede control
strategies as the daily struggle experienced by billions of households globally: water insecurity.
