#9 COVIDCalls 3.26.2020 – Pandemic Perspectives: Italy

What can the United States learn from Italy’s disaster management performance in the first wave, and what are the cracks that lie in Italy and the United States’ systems? What are the historical analogs we can use to understand various aspects of the pandemic? Dr. Giacomo Parrinello, an assistant professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and Dr. Luisa Cortesi, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University (now assistant professor at Erasmus University), and Paolo Cavaliere, a Ph.D. student at the University of Delaware and volunteer with the Italian Red Cross, all join to discuss the state of the Pandemic in Italy in late March 2020, with particular focus on the hard hit area of Bergamo, in the Lombardy region. Each discusses how the Italian response compares to the American response and the structural issues behind the problems in both countries. A wide-ranging conversation topics include: the role of media in shaping the narrative of the pandemic, the relationship between the EU and national governments in Europe, the issue of public trust and expertise, and possible historical analogs for patterns of grief and mourning coming out of the pandemic. For further reading: “We Take the Dead From Morning Till Night” “Italy’s coronavirus death toll feeds fear of what lies ahead in Europe and the U.S.” “Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggests he, other seniors willing to die to get the economy going again”