Unprecedented Tragedy Research Articles

“Sorry, you’re muted!”

The COVID-19 crisis is an unprecedented tragedy that has affected the education sector worldwide in a way that no one has probably ever imagined before. The ongoing lockdowns had forced schools and higher education institutions (HEIs) to close, and this has had a huge impact on us as we were planning for our drama modules for language learning to be conducted face-to-face. In this reflective piece, we recollected not only the challenges that we faced along the way, but also the opportunities that we saw whilst navigating drama in this whole new online world.

Bergamo and Covid-19: How the Dark Can Turn to Light.

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, continues to spread rapidly. Here we discuss the dramatic situation created by COVID-19 in Italy, particularly in the province of Bergamo (the most severely affected in the first wave), as an example of how, in the face of an unprecedented tragedy, acting (albeit belatedly)—including imposing a very strict lockdown—can largely resolve the situation within approximately 2 months. The measures taken here ensured that Bergamo hospital, which was confronted with rapidly rising numbers of severely ill COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization, was able to meet the initial challenges of the pandemic. We also report that local organization and, more important, the large natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2 of the Bergamo population developed during the first wave of the epidemic, can explain the limited number of new COVID-19 cases during the more recent second wave compared to the numbers in other areas of Lombardy. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of coordinating the easing of containment measures to avoid what is currently observed in other countries, especially in the United States, Latin American and India, where this approach has not been adopted, and a dramatic resurgence of COVID-19 cases and an increase in the number of hospitalisations and deaths have been reported.

A Tale of Two Pandemics? COVID-19 and Gendered Policy Responses in the EU

Pre-existing imbalances between women and men in European societies do not bode well for gender balance throughout the pandemic and its unequal pressure. The unprecedented tragedy of the COVID-19 outbreak highlights and exacerbates long-established challenges for the path towards gender equal societies. In this context, this analysis asks what women’s place in the pandemic response is, highlighting cross-country differences in France, Germany, Italy and Spain on the basis of the UNDP COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker. The assessment identifies the key drivers deteriorating women’s welfare across the labor market, family balances and gender-based violence, comparing how variations in risk factors (e.g. length and intensity of the pandemic and derived restrictions) match to policy responses catering for the needs of women. Findings reveal that the worst hit countries are not unambiguously those with the starkest policy effort to mitigate any negative outlook for women. The place for women in the crisis-management and recovery remains fairly limited, especially in those countries already lagging behind in ensuring equal economic opportunities. The evidence suggests that in the absence of a strong prioritization of gender parity, the turbulent road ahead may be even more tumultuous for women, resulting in a concrete risk of a heavy COVID-19 legacy reversing the patchy progress of the latest years. While the situation is still unfolding, it is crucial to closely monitor the gendered initiatives while at the same time promoting a deeper policy effort towards equality.The analysis investigates gender parity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic through a comparative assessment of outbreak and restriction severities – with well-established risks concerning parity – together with (gendered) responses in selected Member States. The four countries, namely France, Germany, Italy and Spain include some of the worst-hit societies within the EU while allowing for the homogeneous comparison across the big Member States across the core and periphery of the Union. Pinpointing the gendered impact of crises as emerged in the literature on the Great Recession and early evidence from the pandemic, the analysis identifies the areas in which policy measures are most needed to counteract the negative impact of the health crisis and its broad implications for work, life and societies. The starting point of the analysis is the benchmark of the pre-pandemic status of the countries of interest in terms of progress toward equality, as evidence by international cross-country tracking of gender parity (WEF 2019) to derive a view of the situation of women and policy preferences and actions in this regard across the four countries. The overview is enriched with a cross-country comparison of the scale of the outbreak in the four Member States with special attention to (i) discrepancies in dynamics which may increase the negative outlook for women in some of the countries in the sample and (ii) early findings on the economic and policy responses and the preliminary picture they draw on potential divergences in accounting for and catering to women’s needs. From such premises, the paper assesses discrepancies in gendered policymaking concerning the pandemic crisis management, considering cross-country trends and the contribution of factors such as the pre-existing family and social structure – with its implications for parity – and the scale of the COVID-19 tragedy. Based on the data from the UNDP (2020) Gender COVID tracker, the research further assesses the alignment between factors heightening the burden on women – such as length of restrictions and in particular school closures and stay-at-home orders – and the gender-sensitive policies. A further element of consideration is the place for women leadership both in crisis management and in the public debate surrounding the pandemic response and gender parity.

The COVID-19 pandemic: an unprecedented tragedy in the battle against childhood obesity.

The childhood obesity pandemic has emerged as an important public health problem in many countries. Obese children are likely to become obese adults, and adult obesity is associated with an increased risk of morbidity. Therefore, controlling the childhood obesity epidemic has become a top public health priority worldwide. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may significantly impede this important mission and constitute an unprecedented tragedy in the global battle against childhood obesity. This manuscript presents evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic will aggravate the childhood obesity epidemic and lead to significant weight gain in school children by creating an unprecedented obesogenic environment. Within the last few months, many countries took uncompromising measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including school closures and quarantine. While these steps are often necessary to ensure infection control, they may have a significant negative effect on children's mental and physical health. Physical, nutritional, and psychosocial factors that promote obesity in children during this special situation complementarily contribute to an unprecedented obesogenic environment. Large-scale quarantine and home confinement will impose new and unfamiliar stressors on children, thereby worsening the childhood obesity epidemic. Most importantly, adverse childhood events resulting from a predicted increase in domestic violence within the next few months will significantly contribute to this concern. The scenario presented in this review is of paramount public health importance and must be considered during future pandemic planning. Involved stakeholders, including governments, schools, and families, must make all possible efforts to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on childhood obesity.

COVID-19 in the Indigenous Population of Brazil.

Brazil has 896,917 Indigenous individuals distributed among 505 Indigenous lands. There are 274 different Indigenous languages within 305 Indigenous ethnic groups. The Indigenous population is susceptible to pandemics, especially to the current pandemic of COVID-19, which has spread rapidly. In Brazil, after the first COVID-19-confirmed Indigenous case on 05th June 2020, more 420 suspected cases, 1727 confirmed cases being 934 active cases, 715 cases with clinical cure, and 70 cases of death were accounted through the first week of June. The number of cases is underestimated, according to the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI) database, since the deaths are due to respiratory failure, possibly caused by COVID-19, but not confirmed. The first COVID-19-caused death was a 15-year-old Indigenous Yanomami teenage from Roraima State without known previous diseases history and/or comorbidities. In the present study, the importance of social isolation, especially for Indigenous people who are more vulnerable to the COVID-19, was highlighted by the identification of the infection community. An Indigenous of the Kokama ethnicity was infected after coming in contact with a Medical Doctor who was infected with the disease. Later, it was noticed that both, Indigenous and doctor, were responsible for COVID-19’s transmission to 43 other Indigenous individuals (30 in Alto Rio Solimões and 13 in Parintis), causing possibly other confirmed deaths. The impact of COVID-19 for Indigenous population might be an unprecedented tragedy, and the government in Brazil must take emergency measures as the social isolation.

Cholera prevention and control in refugee settings: Successes and continued challenges.

Cholera has long been viewed as a serious threat for refugee populations [1, 2]. In the 1980s and 90s, refugee camps proliferated in Africa and Asia as a result of large civil wars and environmental disasters. These camps experienced large-scale cholera outbreaks with regularity because of overcrowding, scarce clean water, and poor sanitation and hygiene practices [2–4]. Death rates were often high because of preexisting malnutrition, comorbidities, and limited access to medical care. With appropriate clinical management, cholera mortality can be well below 1%, but it can be as high as 50%–60% without proper care [3, 5–7]. During this time, humanitarian organizations developed a variety of guidelines and standards to reduce morbidity and mortality during cholera outbreaks in these populations [8, 9]. Mobilization around these issues was greatly accelerated in 1994, when a particularly massive outbreak occurred among Rwandan refugees in the Lake Kivu region of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and approximately 42,000 people died [10]. In response to this unprecedented tragedy, the humanitarian community developed and adopted the Sphere standards for the minimum acceptable living conditions and availability of health services in refugee camps and other humanitarian responses [11]. Since this time, the Sphere standards have been updated, and additional coordinating systems have been developed, including the cluster approach to humanitarian response, the Transformative Agenda, and the adaptation of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) refugee coordination in the context of the Transformative Agenda [12–14]. With the recent goal to reduce cholera deaths 90% by 2030 set by the Global Task Force on Cholera Control, there is a renewed urgency to examine successes and address remaining gaps in cholera control [15]. Although refugee camps continue to experience many vulnerabilities, the increased focus on improved camp coordination, preparedness, timely multisectoral response, and adherence to minimum standards has resulted in a notable decrease in the number and size of camp-based cholera outbreaks and associated mortality.

Kosovo – from Dayton to Rambouillet

Kosovo – from Dayton to Rambouillet

German Displaced Persons Camps (1945-1948): Orthodox Jewish Responses to the Holocaust

Orthodox Jews in postwar German Displaced Persons camps experienced the Holocaust's rupture of God's covenantal relationship with history and the eclipse of sacred reality. They sought to recapture that reality, even though the continuity of tradition that held it had been shattered. This was done by voluntarily reviving tradition, as if by doing so the sacred could be invoked. Following momentary suspension, they sought to restore ethnic-generational purity and traditional ritual. They invested holiday celebration with Holocaust meaning. On the level of thought they expanded Israel's metahistory to include the unprecedented tragedy and intensified their own contributions of Torah and Teshuvah to the higher drama, and recommitted their trust that divine light was implicit to reality's darkness.

Estimating and Mapping the Direct Flood Fatality Rate for Flooding in Greater New Orleans Due To Hurricane Katrina

AbstractThe unprecedented tragedy of Hurricane Katrina produced unprecedented data for studying the impacts of natural disasters. The current paper looks at one public health outcome of this event: direct flood deaths in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes of Louisiana. In particular, the risk of death for the flood‐exposed population is estimated, mapped, and discussed. Of the nearly 1,500 deaths that Louisiana officially counts as Katrina deaths, approximately 600 are determined to be associated with exposure to floodwaters. Additionally, it is estimated that approximately 63,000 persons were exposed to floodwaters. The ratio of flood deaths to flood‐exposed population, termed the flood fatality rate, provides an empirical measure of flood risk. Georeferenced datasets on both the flood deaths and the flood‐exposed population are developed, and then used to estimate and map the flood fatality rate. For the overall event, the flood fatality rate is estimated to be 7 11 deaths per 1,000 persons exposed, which is consistent with other coastal flood disasters. At the blockgroup level, the highest values of the flood fatality rate are observed in the Lower Ninth Ward, while comparatively lower values are observed in New Orleans East. A preliminary univariate regression model with water depth as the independent variable is presented, and applied to Hurricane Gustav, which impacted the region in August 2008.

Out of the Blue? Historical Scholarship on U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East

So begins the official account of the worst terrorist attacks ever carried out on American soil, a brief weather report to evoke the routine calm of just another working day and the sudden violence that shattered it. Despite the unprecedented tragedy of September 11, the events and their aftermath followed a pattern similar to other instances when the Middle East collided with the United States seemingly out of the blue. As with the 1973 oil embargo, the seizure of hostages in Iran, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a crisis event provoked Americans to confront an easily identifiable, personalized enemy, until the emergency dropped off the front page or other events diverted the nation's attention (1). What is missing from such a crisis-driven understanding of U.S. involvement in the Middle East is context. Though historians of American foreign relations have barely begun to address September 11, their scholarship...

A New Zealand Tragedy: Problems of Political Responsibility

New Zealand's state sector reforms, designed to enhance accountability and efficiency, have attracted considerable international attention. However, an unprecedented tragedy in April 1995 involving the deaths of 14 young people, and which resulted from the failings of the department of conservation, has raised doubts about whether the reforms actually clarified or clouded issues of political and managerial responsibility.

17 December 1996: six Red Cross staff assassinated in Chechnya

The unprecedented tragedy that befell the ICRC in Chechnya has underscored the vital importance of security in ensuring the success of any humanitarian operation and has prompted the adoption of measures aimed at affording better protection for ICRC personnel.