It is essential that in 2021 Connecticut’s state legislators, local leaders, for-profit and non-profit partners prioritize policies and programming that address the social determinants of health in our communities and promote health equity practices among our health care providers and systems.

My favorite movie of all-time is the Godfather (I & II). I remember a well-known actor saying that every question in life can be answered by a scene in the Godfather. But can it apply to the recent  2020 Presidential Election? A stretch? Fuhgeddaboudit. Here we go.

Eight months ago, I wrote, “Will handshakes survive the coronavirus pandemic?” (Hartford Courant, April 17, 2020.)  In that short opinion piece, I harkened back to the day when I taught my two daughters the basics of shaking hands. In the end, I questioned whether that ritual would survive the virus. Ultimately, I chose to side with hope, hope that I would again see people shaking hands, especially my daughters. Oh, how that question sounds naïve today!

It was bound to take a toll. As a society, we have been subject to a non-stop bombardment of political vitriol, unchecked media bias, misleading (at best) commercial claims and rampant on-line and telemarketing fraud. Those unyielding influences have turned the most pragmatic among us into skeptics and the naturally dubious into persistent cynics.