Abstract
This introductory chapter aims to outline some of the key features of the local government response to the sanitary, social, and economic challenges raised by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as its implications on intergovernmental relations and on multilevel governance. It is based on a review of the literature and on findings from research and policy reports and serves as a background for what follows in the other chapters of the book. It ends with an outline of the book.
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Notes
- 1.
For a timeline of the Covid-19 pandemic, see the WHO: World Health Organization (timeline): https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/interactive-timeline#event-16
On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and on February 11, 2020 announced an official name for the disease that was causing the new 2019 coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19 in abbreviated form. On 11 March 2020, the WHO informed that the COVID-19 could be characterized as a pandemic (Silva 2021).
- 2.
The World Health Organization issued numerous policy guidances since the start of the pandemic. Among the earliest reports and guidelines, on how cities should cope with the disease, were these WHO (2020a, b, c). Also OECD and CEMR issued numerous policy analysis and recommendations in the initial stages of the pandemic and afterwards, as for example in OECD (2020a, b, c) and CEMR (2020b). The same can be said of the IMF and World Bank (The IMF and COVID-19 (Coronavirus): https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19; World Bank – Projected poverty impacts of COVID-19 (coronavirus): https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/projected-poverty-impacts-of-COVID-19)
- 3.
Numerous analysis and reports already call attention for these inequalities in the impact and in the capacity of recovery: UNICEF (2020). COVID-19 and Migrant and Displaced Children. What Local Governments Can Do. New York: The United Nations Children’s Fund [https://unicefmigrationdisplacement.exposure.co/covid19-and-migrant-and-displaced-children-nbsp]; IFRC (2020). Practical Guidance for Risk Communication and Community Engagement for Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, Migrants, and Host Communities Particularly Vulnerable to COVID-19 Pandemic. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/document/covid-19-rcce-practical-guidance-migrants-refugees-idps/]; UN (29 April 2020). Leave No One Behind. Racial Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities in the COVID-19 Crisis. Statement by the United Nations Network on Racial Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. [https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/UN_Network_Racial_Discrimination_Minorities_COVID.pdf]
- 4.
See the Special Issue of the International Journal of E-Planning Research, vol. 10 (2), 2021, online since August 2020. See also the editorial preface of this special issue (Silva 2021).
- 5.
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Nunes Silva, C. (2022). Local Government and the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Introduction. In: Nunes Silva, C. (eds) Local Government and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Local and Urban Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91112-6_1
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