Historiography and Covid-19. Some considerations

Revista de Direito da Cidade, 2021

The circulation of the SARS-COV-2 virus has generated a whole range of economic, social, health and securitarian effects on the planetary population, the consequences of which are not only reduced to the containment of mass contagion, but have had an impact on the daily lives of humans. As a result of the biopolitical strategies implemented by different States, the biological life of human beings is currently governed by other means justified in order to maintain health or prevent death from COVID-19 disease. The essay main goal is to analyze this event through concepts proposed and developed by Michel Foucault concerning biopower and biopolitics. These concepts can criticize the power over life exercised by both States and international organizations seeking to regulate the effects of the virus and disease. Also, through the framework of biopolitics, we can show the characteristic event of the 21st century: the transition from epidemics and endemics to pandemics. What this essay is trying to show is the extreme biologization of the lives of humans who cannot delinquete from that identity, on which it operates a whole series of biopolitical strategies to control it.

Research, Society and Development, 2022

Trata-se de um estudo de reflexão teórica que objetivou apresentar as repercussões do Coronavírus na saúde da gestante e discorrer sobre as repercussões da pandemia da COVID-19 no cuidado em saúde à essa população, fundamentado nas recomendações propostas pela Organização Mundial da Saúde. Para tanto, apresenta uma reflexão sistematizada e discussão em torno de dois eixos principais: 1) Gestantes e a COVID-19” e 2) Atenção à saúde da gestante na pandemia. Compreender a essencialidade do planejamento e a organização dos serviços de saúde nos diversos níveis de atenção em saúde é de suma importância para o enfrentamento da pandemia e para a promoção do cuidado integral à gestante, principalmente em contextos de emergência sanitária.

Middle Level Learning, 2021

TRENTO LAW AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2020

This paper analyzes the possible compensation scenarios following the advent of the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, verifying to what extent the civil liability enforced against health professionals and health structures can be effec-tive in granting compensation for the alleged damage by patients who did not receive adequate treatment following the outbreak of the pandemic during the lockdown pe-riod (March-May 2020). Speculating on the history and outcomes of the HIV-tainted blood litigation, the work further addresses to what extent the model of civil liability of State and Regions – which seemed to disregard precise and detailed measures pre-viously issued to allow the National Health system as a whole to effectively handle the outburst of a flu pandemic – may polarize the litigation promoted by the victims of COVID in the first wave of the pandemic. In conclusion, it is suggested to consider the establishment of a State fund to compensate COVID victims tailored at settling the cases of this possible litigation, in order to avoid the inconveniences caused by 210/1992 law, with which the State provided to indemnify subjects irreversibly dam-aged by the administration of HIV and hepatitis-tainted blood and blood products. Questo saggio esplora i possibili scenari risarcitori conseguenti all’avvento dell’emergenza sanitaria determinata dalla pandemia del COVID-19, verificando in che misura la responsabilità civile azionata nei confronti di operatori sanitari e struttu-re possa risultare effettiva nel garantire il risarcimento del danno lamentato da quanti non abbiano potuto ricevere cure adeguate in esito al deflagrare della pandemia duran-te il periodo del lockdown (marzo-maggio 2020). Ragionando sul contenzioso seguito al caso del sangue infetto, si verifica come il modello della responsabilità civile dello Stato e delle Regioni, che sembrano aver disatteso precisi e dettagliati provvedimenti emanati per consentire al sistema sanitario nazionale nel suo complesso di essere pronto a gestire in modo ottimale l’avvento di una pandemia influenzale, possa pola-rizzare il contenzioso promosso dalle vittime del COVID nella prima ondata della pandemia. In conclusione, si propone di considerare l’istituzione di un fondo destina-to alla compensazione delle vittime che agisca su base transattiva, evitando di determi-nare gli inconvenienti seguiti alla emanazione della legge 210/1992 con la quale lo Sta-to ha provveduto a indennizzare i soggetti danneggiati in modo irreversibile dalla somministrazione di sangue ed emoderivati infetti. Il saggio è destinato al volume a cura di C. Cicero, I rapporti giuridici al tempo del Covid, 2020 (in corso di pubblicazione)

2020

This paper aims at making an inquiry into the ongoing societal effects of the COVID-19 focusing on futuristic dimensions in the post-COVID-19 scenario while taking stock of the expected social changes in the world in general and Pakistan in particular. The main thesis of the subject matter is that the cosmic outreach and destructive nature of this menace have introduced a few extraordinary changes in our social lives. Pandemics, since time immemorial have decimated millions of lives and spread grief, gloom and tribulation all around. The occurrence frequency of pandemics has been on the rise since the last century because of increased global integration, exponential growth in population, mass urbanization, increased mobility and excessive exploitation of the environment. Major pandemics endured by humanity are; plague, smallpox, flu or influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, Ebola and few others. All of these pandemics overwhelmed populations socially and economically, hence COVID-19 being accosted globally is hinting at the evolution of the new normal.

HEC Forum

Decades ago, in his foundational essay on the early days of the AIDS crisis, medical historian Charles Rosenberg wrote, "epidemics start at a moment in time, proceed on a stage limited in space and duration, following a plot line of increasing revelatory tension, move to a crisis of individual and collective character, then drift toward closure." In the course of epidemics, societies grappled with sudden and unexpected mortality and also returned to fundamental questions about core social values. "Epidemics," Rosenberg wrote, "have always provided occasion for retrospective moral judgment" (Rosenberg 1989, pp. 2, 9). Following Rosenberg's observations, this essay places COVID-19 in the context of epidemic history to examine common issues faced during health crises-moral, political, social, and individual. Each disease crisis unfolds in its own time and place. Yet, despite specific contexts, we can see patterns and recurring concerns in the history of pandemics: (1) pandemics and disease crises in the past, along with public health responses to them, have had implications for civil liberties and government authority; (2) disease crises have acted as a sort of stress test on society, revealing, amplifying or widening existing social fissures and health disparities; (3) pandemics have forced people to cope with uncertain knowledge about the origin and nature of disease, the best sources of therapies, and what the future will hold after the crisis. While historians are not prognosticators, understanding past experience offers new perspectives for the present. The essay concludes by identifying aspects of history relevant to the road ahead.

Il presente lavoro illustra percezioni, concezioni ed esperienze relative al vaccino anti-Covid-19 tra le “persone in transito” in Italia. Per un crescente numero di tali soggetti, l'Italia è considerata una destinazione di transito per raggiungere altri Paesi europei. Le considerazioni contenute in questo documento sono di particolare rilievo per i Paesi situati sulle rotte migratorie orientali e dell'area centrale del Mediterraneo. I decisori politici dell'Unione Europea hanno espresso preoccupazioni riguardo la vulnerabilità di rifugiati, richiedenti asilo e migranti sprovvisti di documenti in relazione al Covid-19. Stante la mobilità delle persone durante il percorso migratorio, nonché la paura e la diffidenza nei confronti delle autorità governative, gli esperti di sanità pubblica hanno correlato l’appartenenza a questi gruppi a un maggiore rischio di trasmissione del Covid-19 entro e oltre i confini nazionali. I fattori che incidono sulla trasmissione del Covid-19,...

Rivista Trimestrale Di Scienza Dell’Amministrazione 2:, 2020

This review offers an overview of several devastating historical epidemics and pandemics. The first pandemic ravaging the Middle East and Ancient Egypt was an unidentified "plague" in the late Bronze Age. The plague of Athens was apparently "only" a local epidemic but with fatal consequences for that ancient democracy. Great empires with well-developed trade routes seem to be very susceptible to rapid and devastating spreads as the Antonine Plague, the Plague of Cyprian and the Justinian Plague testify. The great Medieval plague wave in Europe was absolutely devastating, but for the first time it brought along with it substantial containment measures that are still being successfully used today (e.g. isolation, quarantine) as well as the seeds of the development of a new form of medical theory and practice. The blame game that can be observed in the current COVID-19 pandemic has also been seen in previous epidemics and pandemics. Particularly in the case of syphilis, its origin was often attributed to foreign countries. Finally, the paper comparatively stresses the historical importance of an early implementation of a lockdown-based approach as an effective form of controlling epidemic spreads. Riassunto. Le epidemie e le pandemie nella storia dell'umanità e la maniera tenuta dai governi nel gestirle. Una review dall'Età del Bronzo alla prima Età moderna Questa rassegna offre una panoramica su diverse devastanti epidemie e pandemie nella storia. La prima pandemia che ha devastato il Medio Oriente e l'antico Egitto è stata una "peste" non ancora identificata alla fine dell'Età del Bronzo. La Peste di Atene fu apparentemente "solo" un'epidemia locale, ma con conseguenze fatali per l'antica democrazia. Grandi imperi con vie commerciali ben sviluppate sembrano essere molto suscettibili alla rapida e devastante diffusione epidemica, come testimoniano la Peste Antonina, la Peste di Cipriano e la Peste di Giustiniano. La grande ondata epidemica di peste nell'Europa medievale si è rivelata assolutamente devastante, ma per la prima volta ha portato con sé sostanziali misure di contenimento che ancora oggi vengono utilizzate con successo (ad es. isolamento, quarantena) e lo sviluppo di una nuova forma di teoria e pratica medica. Il gioco dell'incolparsi vicendevolmente che si può osservare nell'attuale pandemia di COVID-19 può, inoltre, essere osservato anche nelle precedenti epidemie e pandemie. In particolare nel caso della sifilide, l'origine del morbo era spesso attribuita a nazioni straniere. L'articolo, infine, sottolinea in maniera comparativa l'importanza storica dell'applicazione precoce di un approccio basato sul confinamento quale forma di di efficace forma di controllo delle diffusioni epidemiche.

Revista Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho, 2021