The sudden presence of a virulent pathogen with a high mortality rate presents difficult problems for liberal democracies that have no easy solutions

Protection and improvement of community health through prevention, surveillance, education and policy rather than individual treatment. In the United States it is delivered mainly by state and local agencies, with federal bodies setting guidance that carries little binding force on them.

Individual freedoms that constrain what the state may do, including speech, assembly, religion, privacy and protection from arbitrary search or detention. Distinct from civil rights, which concern equal treatment, these limit government power rather than extend entitlement, and are usually enforced through the courts.