Reflections on the impact of coronavirus on public affairs

• Author: Danny Moss,Phil Harris
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2205
• Date: 01 May 2020

EDITORIAL

Reflections on the impact of coronavirus on public affairs

As the editorial team considered how we might best mark the 20th

anniversary year of the publication of the Journal of Public Affairs and

reflected on what significant developments have occurred in the

world of public affairs over the past two decades, none of us around

that table could have possibly imagined how the world of politics and

society as a whole could and would change in just a few short months.

Yes, we all witnessed the horrible effects of Ebola in Africa and of

SARS in the Far East and in the United Kingdom we experienced the

nationwide lockdown of countryside during the infamous foot and

mouth disease that ravaged the countryside in 2001. However, devas-

tating each of these disease outbreaks that we might think of as con-

tagions have been, none can really compare or have prepared us fully

for a the rapidity and impact that the recent coronavirus pandemic

has had across the world, not only in terms of the scale of the infec-

tion rising death rate, but in the profound impact it has had on the

economy and on people's lives and livelihoods. Moreover, at the time

of assembling this issue of the Journal of Public Affairs, we are perhaps

still on the edge of what could be a major economic abyss with rising

unemployment worldwide, vastly disrupted supply chains and sectors

such as aviation, tourism and leisure, and retail to name but three, vir-

tually brought to a standstill. As we approach the end of May 2020,

just over 5 million cases of coronavirus been officially reported world-

wide with over 328,000 deaths attributed to the disease. However,

these global statistics tend to cloak wide variations in the reported

incidents of and deaths attributed to coronavirus across the world

which do not simply represent differences in population size, but

appear to some extent, to reflect the relative effectiveness of individ-

ual governmental responses to the virus. Inevitably, in those countries

worst affected by the virus, which includes United Kingdom, a battle

is already emerging between political parties over who is to blame for

the failure to get to grips with suppressing the virus more quickly than

has been the case. In the United Kingdom for example, opposition

parties and the media focused on the shortage of personal protective

equipment (PPE) and the shortcomings of the virus testing system not

only for NHS workers and patients, but particularly for care workers

and care homes dealing with the elderly, where the virus has had a

devastating effect. Although reported new cases of the virus, hospital

admissions, and deaths attributed to the virus have begun to plateau

in many of the countries worst affected such as Italy, France, Spain

and the United Kingdom, the spectre of a second wave of outbreaks

is forcing authorities in all these countries to only cautiously lift the

stringent lockdown measures that have had such a devastating impact

on each country's economy.

Although there has been a degree of cooperation across the

world particularly in terms of the search for a vaccine, it is notable

that governments have largely operated independently in their

response to the onset of the virus rather than working collaboratively.

Thus, for example, in Europe there has been a lack of coordinated

European wide measures to combat the virus with governments

implementing differing policies according to the severity with which

they have been affected and competing with other nations for sup-

plies of PPE and other equipment. Notably, the Swedish government

chose not to adopt the stringent lockdown policy found in other

European and Nordic countries, rather allowing the virus to spread

within the population in an attempt to achieve a “herd immunity”out-

come. However with Sweden's average deaths per million rate rising

to the highest in Europe (rising to 6.25 per million), the Swedish gov-

ernment has come under intense attack from many sections of society

for its failure to adopt the stringent lockdown measures adopted else-

where in Europe.

At the time of writing the foc us in the United Kingdom and else-

where is understandably d irected to the challenge o f “defeating the

virus,”but it is generally ackn owledged that this will be a long-ter m

battle and society as a whole wi ll have to learn to accommodate liv-

ing with coronavirus and s uppressing its impact ove r time. As we

begin to emerge from the pea k effects of the virus the economic and

behavioural impact of th e virus on society across t he world is likely

to be profound, with econom ists predicting one of the wor st reces-

sions on record. The next cha llenge will clearly be governments indi-

vidually and collectively to look to rebuild the shattered industries

and economies left in the wak e of this virus. Governmen ts around

the world have incurred huge indebtedness in attempts to prop up

some of the most badly affect ed industries and maintai n jobs. The

challenge going forwar d will be to try to find pol icies that will help

rebuild individual eco nomies but also trade worldwide. The dan ger is

that the aftermath of this ec onomic as well as health crisis may her-

ald a new era of isolationism as individual governments come under

increasing pressure to p reserve the jobs and livelihoods of their own

citizens.

For observers and students of public affairs, the next few years

are likely to be a fascinating time to observe how governments and

industry interact within individual countries, as well as on a

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2205

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reprodu ction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Public Affairs published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2205. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of2

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2205