[5] Instead, she proposed adding in basic due process steps to ensure the proper checks and balances that would respect civil liberties.
[10] In February 2019, she and her colleagues called for the WHO to declare the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in order to galvanize the international community to provide political, financial, and technical support to prevent the disease from spreading further.
[14][15] Phelan has also been critical of reports that Chinese officials cordon sanitaire in the Hubei Province, forcing the quarantine of those in the region.
[14][16] She notes that the Liberian government's forced quarantine of 60 to 120 thousand people in West Point, Monrovia during the 2014 Ebola outbreak led to violence and public mistrust that exacerbated the spread of the virus.
[17] Phelan has asserted that cultivating public trust, while also preserving human rights, is essential for combatting the growing crisis.
[19] They argue that failure to take such an approach will undermine response efforts to the pandemic, eroding trust among these marginalized communities and frontline healthcare workers.