Pedro de Abreu G. dos Santos, Ph.D.
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COVID Article Roundup: April 13 ish

4/16/2020

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​There are a lot of interesting things out there, and here, talking about COVID 19. I  have been listening to podcasts a lot lately, and  Make Me Smart is one that has discussed some interesting aspects of the economic consequences of all this stuff. There are others, but this one has gotten my attention lately.

First, a very good piece about Sweden's approach to this whole thing, which has been unorthodox. This article provides a good overview of why Sweden has taken a different path and the reasons why people are listening to the government. The long section below (in italics) provides an interesting argument:
One key factor according to the Swedish minister for foreign affairs, Ann Linde, is Sweden’s politically independent public agencies—and the high level of public trust in them. For the last 400 years, Sweden has had a system with small ministries but big agencies, like the Public Health Agency, which explains why there is an epidemiologist and not a prime minister at the helm of this effort.
“In this case the Public Health authorities gives advice and recommendation that people follow,” she says on the phone adding that the authorities also have a lot of trust in people.
“We have a very low level of corruption, so there is no reason for authorities to give expert advice that wouldn’t be the best for people and society. And this is the main reason why people trust authorities.”
So when the authorities “recommend” people not leave Stockholm during Easter it’s not regarded as a tip, but as something “You Should Not Do" (Schibbye 2020).

Next, there are two Guardian pieces that are long (I mean it) but worth reading. The first (link here) is about how the financial markets reacted to the COVID 19 and how close we were of a complete collapse of the world economy in March (as if we didn't have something else to worry about!). Here is one of the most impactful quotes from the article (in italics):
After five terrifying days of market turmoil, the weekend of 14-15 March was a moment for central banks around the world to coordinate their response. What everyone wanted was dollars, so it was above all the Federal Reserve that needed to take the lead. And as its chair, Powell did. He called an unscheduled press conference for the afternoon of 15 March. What he announced was remarkable.
With immediate effect, the Fed was cutting interest rates to zero – something it had done just once before, at the height of the crisis in 2008. To stabilize the US Treasury bonds market, it would be buying $700bn in a new round of so-called quantitative easing. And it would start big, buying $80bn by 17 March. In the space of just 48 hours, it would spend more on treasuries than the Fed spent in most months in the aftermath of 2008 (Tooze 2020)
The article above is long, but it is worth a read! The second article I am likely going to assign next year in my Intro to International Relations Class unless I find something else that tells the same story better somehow. This article talks about the World Health Organization (WHO) and why it cannot "solve" the COVID 19 crisis. Spoiler alert: states are self-interested, but not necessarily acting in the best collective interest.
There is a simple reason for this. For all the responsibility vested in the WHO, it has little power. Unlike international bodies such as the World Trade Organization, the WHO, which is a specialised body of the UN, has no ability to bind or sanction its members. Its annual operating budget, about $2bn in 2019, is smaller than that of many university hospitals, and split among a dizzying array of public health and research projects. The WHO is less like a military general or elected leader with a strong mandate, and more like an underpaid sports coach wary of “losing the dressing room”, who can only get their way by charming, grovelling, cajoling and occasionally pleading with the players to do as they say (Buranyi 2020)
​I have also seen a few articles about the role of gender and leadership in dealing with COVID 19. Opinion pieces on Forbes (link here) and CNN (link here) both make the same argument and raise the question: women leaders have been the ones dealing with the pandemic most skillfully, so why is it that we don't have more women leaders? (My students from POLS 223 know the answer, but I feel what I said in class should not be recorded in writing...)

The last article from this roundup connects to the discussion on climate change that we were having in my POLS 121 class this past week. The collective action problem that arises from COVID 19 has similarities to the collective action problems that arise from climate change politicization. This Vox article written by sociologist Patrick Sharkey has a lot of interesting information, but this quote is the one that connects the most to our class discussions: "In fact, attitudes toward climate change are one of the strongest and most robust predictors of social distancing behavior. In the full model I find that an increase of 10 percentage points in the share of residents who do not agree that global warming is happening is associated with a 1 point drop in the county’s social distancing grade — which essentially means shifting from, say, a C to a B- in social distancing behavior."

This is it for the roundup of the week (or for now, I am not sure I am following days as a measure of time anymore). Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
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COVID Article Roundup: April 1-5

4/5/2020

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Here are some of the most interesting/intriguing sources I have found these past days, in no particular order, except for the first one that is about mental health.
  • The One You Feed is another podcast I enjoy that deals with mental health and mindfulness. This episode I am sharing is a compilation of experts sharing their strategies to cope with emotional issues. All podcast episodes help me think about priorities and how I personally deal with adversity, but this specific episode is a good one to start thinking about how to deal with the stress of our current situation. 
  • This Al Jazeera's The Listening Post episode is very interesting, talking about the geopolitical for the COVID narrative. Al Jazeera is always interesting to me since it many times rejects the narratives established in the West and in the East, providing a critical view of how we collective "see the world."
  • This Nature article highlights four Global South countries and their approach to prepare for the pandemic. This quote highlights the overall strategy for the countries highlighted in the article: "Without the luxury of well-funded hospital systems, Nigeria and other low- and middle-income countries began ramping up measures to keep COVID-19 from spreading as soon as they confirmed their first cases of the disease — in some cases, even before. That includes shutting down most activities with the threat of arrest, quickly rolling out tests to detect genetic sequences from the virus and a willingness to deploy rapid, easy-to-use tests — even if they are not as accurate as the conventional variety, which requires more laboratory capacity."
  • I got the Nature article above from the Nature Podcast (link to the episode here). They now have a Coronapod version dealing solely with the pandemic. So far this has been a pretty good resource to hear from experts some interesting insights. 
  • Speaking of podcasts, Science Vs is one of my favorite podcasts out there, and the episodes on the pandemic have been very interesting too. The last episode (Is Coronavirus Airborne?) discusses aspects of the virus that I was not really thinking about.
  • File this one under creepy but interesting: this Endgadget article is talking about Google's Comunity Mobility Reports. "The reports show location data from folks who have agreed to share their location history with Google in order to show places that are following instructions to shelter in place -- or not." This is a short article and at the end they have a short paragraph discussing other policy strategies that include using cell location data: "Location tracking has been used by nations like Korea and Taiwan to track movements of quarantined and healthy citizens. However, such actions are of limited use alone. Those countries have also been testing a high percentage of their populations and implementing stricter social distancing rules as well."
  • This is an interesting Atlantic article (I have seen other similar articles) talking about the environmental consequences of the worldwide shutdown. Here is my favorite quote: "A quick search for the phrase birds are louder on Twitter reveals that many other people have been wondering the same thing I have lately: Are the birds chirping more fiercely these days, or am I losing my mind? With spring migration in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, there are certainly more birds around. But the reduction in noise pollution—and, in some places, its total absence—might make it easier to notice the usual trilling and squawking."
  • This Guardian article revisits Italy since the beginning of lockdowns. The title of the article says it all: Singing stops in Italy as fear and social unrest mount. This quote shows the issues that are arising since the lockdown: "Tensions are building across the poorest southern regions of Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia as people run out of food and money. There have been reports of small shop owners being pressured to give food for free, while police are patrolling supermarkets in some areas to stop thefts. The self-employed or those working on contracts that do not guarantee social benefits have lost salaries, and many small businesses may never reopen."
  • Two last podcast recommendations are related to the economy. Planet Money and their sibling podcast The Indicator have been focusing a lot on the economy (US focus but some global discussions too) and the unemployment situation in the US. A lot of insightful stuff.
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COVID Article Roundup: March 29-31

3/31/2020

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Notes from March 29

One thing that is becoming very clear is that supply chains matter. There is a lot of information out there about what it takes to bring supplies in, what states (and corporations) are doing to address shortages and the long term impacts of disruptions in trade. There are two articles that popped up on my feed that I think are worth sharing. First, Axios' Inside the start of the great virus airlift discusses what the US government is doing to bring the medical supplies needed. There is an interesting discussion about the nationalization of the supply chain:

"(Rear Admiral John) Polowczyk (working with FEMA) said many members of Congress "want me to nationalize this supply chain by using the Defense Production Act. They want me to do all the buying, all the distributing, and all the allocation." But he's been resisting that. "This medical supply chain, there's like six, seven big distributors who have like 600–700 nodes that push out product," he said. "I'm not going to re-create that. I'm looking to break down barriers ... to help them feed product where it needs to go." He said the federal government will buy some medical supplies but will try to feed them into existing supply chains. Polowczyk said he doesn't want to use the Defense Production Act, but he leaves the door open to using those powers to move supplies around the country if his current plan doesn't work."
​

The Texas Monthly article Inside the Story of How H-E-B Planned for the Pandemic focuses on the importance of preparedness inside the private sector, especially the grocery store sector. This was so far one of the most fascinating articles for me since it showed how private (non-state) actors may have been better prepared for the pandemic than local, state, and federal officials.

Moving to international law, the forum Just Security had an interesting discussion about "punishing" countries for pandemics. The article, COVID-19 and International Law: Must China Compensate Countries for the Damage? lays out the reasons why it is unlikely that China will be required to compensate other countries, arguing that "Claims that China has committed internationally wrongful acts and has an obligation to compensate foreign governments form part of a feature of this pandemic that is not really about international law." Moreover, the author states that "The most important consequences of the geopolitical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic will appear after countries bring the outbreak under control in their territories." I appreciated this article for bringing some key international treaties to explaining what can and cannot happen based on precedent. 

There were other interesting articles, here are a few links:
  • BBC article about Tunisian workers (mostly women) self-isolating inside a factory to continue the production of medical supplies.
  • A Guardian article discussing the gendered dynamics of labor and family during the pandemic. Spoiler alert: women are being punished for being women in a man's world.
  • A NY Times article about the economic responses to COVID-19 in Denmark.
  • This Project Syndicate commentary about what developing countries should do to flatten the curve.

Notes for March 30

I am going to start this roundup with the first academic article I have seen on COVID 19. Adolph et al. (2020) wrote Pandemic Politics: Timing State-Level Social Distancing Responses to COVID-19 where they analyze state policies in reaction to the virus and the factors influencing such policies. In their analysis, "all else equal, Republican governors and governors from states with more Trump supporters were slower to adopt social distancing policies. These delays are likely to produce significant, on-going harm to public health" (p. 2). This is a provocative quote in the same article: 

"We strongly believe that realistic assessments of decision-making by elected officials must take electoral motivations and career ambitions seriously – as impolitic as that may be. Elected officials, regardless of party, must be responsive to the concerns of their voters and party leaders. However, this essential feature of democratic representation does not inevitably produce the best policy outcome" (p. 13).

This Independent article is one of the many I saw discussing the role of the February 19 Champion's League game between Atalanta and Valencia (a Spanish team). The game was played in Milan (30 miles away from Atalanta's home Bergamo), and the movement of people and created what many are now referring to as a "biological bomb." According to the article, "At the time, few in Italy were greatly concerned about Covid-19. Two days after the match was played, though, the country saw its first confirmed death from the illness, and within two weeks Bergamo was reporting a sharp increase in its rate of coronavirus cases." I also wonder how many Valencia fans were in the Stadium and eventually made their way back to Spain. 

I am also sharing here the link to a Tweet from Dr. Rama Dieng that highlights a number of written pieces about COVID 19 from a feminist (and mostly Global South) perspective. 

Finally, two more interesting artifacts that are COVID-adjacent. First, this Planet Money episode about unemployment in the US in March explains why the system is not enough to address the economic depression that has started and will follow COVID 19. Next, this 10 Percent Happier Podcast episode about how to engage "corona-deniers" delves deeper into some of the ethics surrounding this whole situation. This was a very interesting piece, and I also recommend the 10 Percent Happier website (or other mindfulness apps and sites) to help in these stressful times. 
​

Notes from March 31

​
I want to start this roundup with a great podcast episode from Brene Brown on grieving and finding meaning. Whether you realize it already or not, the world as we knew it is no more. This podcast was very provocative and provided some great insights on how to think about this pandemic and its consequences.

Now a quick tour around the world of COVID around the world.
  • In Sweden, some are arguing that their culture may help since they already kinda social isolate anyways. On the policy side, "Sweden’s more formal efforts to tackle the coronavirus are controversial. Unlike in neighbouring European countries (including Denmark, which currently has a similar number of fatalities), public authorities are avoiding stricter measures and following a strategy of trying to slow down the spread of the virus in a calm and controlled way, while focusing on the protection of vulnerable groups."
  • This Foreign Policy commentary focuses on China and their attempt to divert blame from them when it comes to the COVID pandemic. They conclude the article by stating that  "the CCP does not actually hope to convince the world that the virus may have started in the United States—or Italy, for that matter. But it absolutely does feel the need to blunt and undercut Washington’s efforts to point out China’s early role in letting the coronavirus get out of hand, a devastating reality for Beijing’s efforts to portray itself internationally as a responsible global power and potentially damaging domestically too if this international consensus is allowed to seep back into mainland China." This is where public health is not the focus, but state power and state posturing become part of the analysis of COVID 19 and its aftermath.
  • This Eurodad (European Network on Debt and Development, not a European father...) piece focuses on Latin America and the issues with addressing the pandemic in the region. Here is a quote with a bunch of terms from our classes: "In Latin America, most national health systems were transformed under the influence of the Washington Consensus, driven by the Bretton Woods Institutions. This reform process emphasised the liberalisation of the health sector and the contraction of the public health system. Structural adjustments have left health systems vulnerable to shocks and have compromised countries’ ability to provide basic healthcare to all citizens."
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COVID 19 Articles Week of March 23

3/26/2020

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Here I am compiling news articles about COVID 19 that connect in some way to things I discuss in my IR and comparative classes, or they are just articles that I thought were interesting. I am sharing these articles via email with students but thought I would also compile them here. There is little rhyme or reason for the articles, just things I stumble upon and think is worth sharing with my students. Below are the email messages copied and pasted to this blog.

The first one I shared with my POLS 121 course already but thought I would share here since some of you are not in POLS 121. In this article Cynthia Enloe discussing why using the term "war on Covid" and war analogies are problematic.

Here is a really good BBC article discussing a brief history of pandemics. Here is the most interesting quote for me: "If these numbers shock, it’s because today epidemics are rarely discussed in history classes, while in the not so distant past, they were simply a terrible fact of life. There are few memorials to the victims of disease." I would add that, in general (or at least in my experience), global health is discussed very briefly in introduction to IR course. I am sure there are exceptions, but most textbooks have small sections or a small chapter tacked in the end of the book. I remember teaching about it during the H1N1 fears, but eventually I moved away from discussing pandemics at length in class, even when the Ebola scare happened. In the early 2010s I even showed the movie Contagion in class (the first half hour is pretty much what is happening now, then it gets Hollywood). Maybe this is more for me, since I feel I dropped the ball talking about this in my classes, and I am sure now it will be a big point of discussion for the years to come.  

This Politico article talked about the Trump administration ignoring a "pandemic playbook." When I am reading this, I am less worried about the criticism of Trump's response and more on general ideas of bureaucracies and standard operating procedures.
​
This Atlantic article from March 25th has been shared widely among my social media circles. Here are some good quotes:

"To contain such a pathogen, nations must develop a test and use it to identify infected people, isolate them, and trace those they’ve had contact with. That is what South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong did to tremendous effect."  

"
Italy and Spain offer grim warnings about the future. Hospitals are out of room, supplies, and staff. Unable to treat or save everyone, doctors have been forced into the unthinkable: rationing care to patients who are most likely to survive, while letting others die. The U.S. has fewer hospital beds per capita than Italy."

"These shortages are happening because medical supplies are made-to-order and depend on byzantine international supply chains that are currently straining and snapping. Hubei province in China, the epicenter of the pandemic, was also a manufacturing center of medical masks."

"Inequalities will widen: People with low incomes will be hardest-hit by social-distancing measures, and most likely to have the chronic health conditions that increase their risk of severe infections."

"After 9/11, the world focused on counterterrorism. After COVID-19, attention may shift to public health. Expect to see a spike in funding for virology and vaccinology, a surge in students applying to public-health programs, and more domestic production of medical supplies. Expect pandemics to top the agenda at the United Nations General Assembly." Expect my POLS 121 to talk about global health 😷

Here are two Monkey Cage articles about China that I think are interesting. Monkey Cage was created by political scientists and was then purchased by the Washington Post. If you are having trouble opening the articles (paywall) let me know and I can send you a PDF.

China’s coronavirus response could build public support for its government, written by Dan Chen, a friend of mine who is also a KU Ph.D. 

China is also relying on propaganda to tackle the covid-19 crisis, written by Haifeng Huang of the University of California, Merced. 

An article from Reason provides some interesting insights on the possible economic impacts of th.e pandemic. Here is the link to the article. The article focuses solely on the impact on the US economy, discussing research on the economic impact of the 1918 pandemic. Here is the concluding paragraph that I think is important to emphasize:

​"Given our highly mobile and connected society, any future influenza pandemic is likely to be more severe in its reach, and perhaps in its virulence, than the 1918 influenza despite improvements in health care over the past 90 years….Unfortunately, a 2005 report suggests that the United States is not prepared for an influenza pandemic. Although federal, state and local governments in the United States have started to focus on preparedness in recent years, it is fair to say that progress has been slow, especially at local levels of government."

This last article is from the BBC and discusses the fears that the epicenter of the disease in Italy will move from the north to poorer regions in the south. At the end of the article there is this small tidbit about Germany: "Germany's relatively low death rate was largely due to the high number of tests being carried out, said Christian Drosten, head of the Charite University Hospital's Institute of Virology in Berlin." Next week I will try to find some articles that discuss Germany more closely, and I encourage you all to take a look at what happened in South Korea as well to understand more about what is "working" right now.

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