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Abstract The United States approached the COVID‐19 pandemic with inconsistent responses that varied by state. In Florida, legislators passed laws contrary to mitigating the pandemic. These laws included banning county and municipal efforts to control the spread of COVID‐19 through mask mandates, social distancing, and prohibiting vaccination mandates during infectious disease epidemics. Moreover, the Legislature simultaneously prioritized policies of social exclusion, passing bills that constrained the rights of transgender individuals, Black Lives Matter protestors, and educators. In this article, I use the perspectives of critical medical anthropology and “governing through contagion” to examine Florida's COVID‐19 response. I argue the COVID‐19 pandemic provided an opportunity for legislators to obfuscate their political power and advance a politics of social division while simultaneously passing policies that undermined human health. I refer to this process as governingwithcontagion: Using a pandemic as a politically expedient backdrop to conceal power and simultaneously harm human health. 

Structural racism is a root cause of poor health in the United States and underlies COVID-19–related disparities for Black and Latinx populations. We describe how one community-based organization responded to structural racism and COVID-19 in Florida. Informed by the literature on how public health practice changed from emphasizing prevention (Public Health 1.0) to collaboration between governmental and public health agencies (Public Health 2.0) and examining social determinants of health (Public Health 3.0), we call for a politically engaged Public Health 4.0. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(S3):S201–S203. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306408 )