Sense or Sensibility? Different Approaches to Cope With the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Author: Daniela Cristofoli,Giovanni Valotti,Alex Turrini
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942427
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Comparative Governance During COVID-19: Lessons From Around the WorldComparative Management & Learning Techniques

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020942427

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 746 –752

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942427

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Comparative Management & Learning Techniques

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Need for

Timely Responses

While governments around the world struggle to combat the

rapid escalation of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

pandemic, scholars and practitioners are questioning what

works and what does not. Probably, it is too early to identify

clear answers and directions in this quest (assuming that it

will ever be possible). However, one thing is becoming

increasingly clear day by day, which is the need “to be quick”

(in response to such emergencies. As the COVID-19 pan-

demic “runs faster than our bureaucracies” (to quote the Head

of the Italian National Government Emergency Agency), the

need for timely responses in public administration emerges as

a crucial factor (Pisano et al., 2020).

From this perspective, our aim in this article is to explore

how to ensure timely responses by public administrations and,

more specifically, which factors allow public administrations

to be quick when an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pan-

demic, occurs.

For this purpose, following Comfort et al.’s (2012) rec-

ommendations, we chose a comparative approach. We ana-

lyzed the same type of intervention (conversion of convention

centers into makeshift hospitals for coronavirus patients) in

two different settings: New York (USA) and Milan (Italy),

and we qualitatively infer crucial issues regarding how to

ensure the promptness of public administration action. We

base our study on newspaper articles that trace the process

leading to the opening of the hospitals.

The comparative analysis reveals that there is no one single

best way to manage emergencies successfully, and it sheds

light on which conditions might drive different modes of inter-

vention from the public sector in emergencies and beyond.

Brief Description of the Cases

Ospedale COVID Fiera in Milan (Italy)

Since the beginning of March 2020, alarmed by the risk of a

saturation of intensive care units (ICUs) because of the

COVID-19 virus spread in Lombardy, the Regional

Government, the National Government Emergency Agency

(Dipartimento Protezione Civile), and Milano—Fiera

Convention Center (Fondazione Fiera) have converged

around the need to build a new hospital specifically for

intensive care COVID patients, following the example of

the two emergency hospitals built within a few days in

Wuhan, China. The location was offered for free, but when

the infrastructure project for a hospital of about 400 ICUs

was ready, the National Emergency Agency reported that it

was unable to find ventilators and other medical equipment

on the international market. On March 14th, the Lombardy

governor announced to the media that Protezione Civile

“was unable to keep its promises” (Colaprico, 2020a) and

that the Regional Government would have explored differ-

ent paths for the realization of the hospital. On March 15th,

the regional governor appointed Guido Bertolaso as a per-

sonal advisor. Bertolaso, head of Protezione Civile from

2001 to 2010, was perceived as one of the most effective

emergency managers in the country. He accepted the role

942427ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020942427The American Review of Public AdministrationTurrini et al.

research-article2020

1Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

2SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy

3Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Alex Turrini, Visiting Professor, Southern Methodist University, Dallas,

TX 75205, USA.

Email: aturrini@smu.edu

Sense or Sensibility? Different Approaches

to Cope With the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alex Turrini1, Daniela Cristofoli2, and Giovanni Valotti3

Abstract

The paper qualitatively infers which factors allow public administrations to be quick when an emergency, such as the

COVID-19 pandemic, occurs. For this purpose we analyze the same type of intervention (i.e. conversion of convention

centers into makeshift hospitals for coronavirus patients) in two different geographical settings (i.e. New York (USA) and

Milan (Italy)) and we trace the two processes on the basis of a systematic analysis of national newspaper articles.

The comparative analysis reveals that there is no one single best way to manage emergencies successfully, and it sheds

light on which conditions might drive different modes of intervention from the public sector in emergencies and beyond.

Keywords

public responsiveness, public governance, emergency management, political leadership