A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
A Look Ahead: How to Better Handle the Next Pandemic and Other Crises
Authors: Hawdon James; Sedgwick Donna; Cozette Comer C.; Räsänen Pekka
Editors: James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, Pekka Räsänen
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication year: 2024
Book title : Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19
First page : 171-182
ISBN: 978-1-83608-625-3
eISBN: 978-1-83608-624-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-624-620241010
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-624-620241010
The concluding chapter uses insights from the previous chapters to derive recommendations for how to cope with the next pandemic or other crisis. We note the necessity for properly preparing for the next crisis and how such preparation has numerous benefits. Building on the fundamental insight that social solidarity and confidence in those running major institutions was a primary factor in predicting COVID-19 outcomes, we offer a variety of suggestions for building solidarity and confidence prior to the next crisis. Many of these suggestions are related to the dangers of political polarization during crises, and we provide several suggestions for addressing the growing political divide that is evident in many liberal democracies in the early 21st century. We then consider several strategies for maintaining solidarity and confidence during the next crisis. Many of these suggestions focus on how governmental leaders and experts should frame their messages about the crisis and how to best mitigate its effects. Many of these lessons are drawn from the several mistakes that were made during the COVID-19 crisis that have now become visible with hindsight.