HEALTH
Fallacies, hard truths and lessons: comparing nations’ handling of COVID-19
Researchers from Harvard, Cornell, and dozens of other universities around the world are analyzing 18 nations’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic to compare what worked, what fell short, and why. In their interim report, the scholars have identified “five fallacies,” including the notion that politics takes a back seat to policy in a crisis (amid COVID-19, it did not). And the report concludes with “five hard truths,” among them that resilience is more important than having a detailed response playbook. HKS Professor Sheila Jasanoff is one of two co-principal investigators, along with Professor Stephen Hilgartner of Cornell. Jasanoff also directs the Program on Science, Technology and Society, based at the Kennedy School. In all, more than 60 researchers from 38 research institutions are participating in the ongoing study, which should help policymakers confront future pandemics more effectively. Jasanoff says the Comparative Covid Response study proved to be “a gateway into a series of puzzles that we were not expecting to find.” |