Public policy responses to COVID‐19 in Europe

This introductory article to the European Policy Analysis special issue on “Public Policy Responses to COVID-19 in Europe” proceeds through four parts. Part I presents an abbreviated timeline of how the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged in China in late 2019, its recorded arrival in Europe in February, and the lockdown measures and public policy responses which followed during the first six months of 2020. Part II briefly reviews some of the contributions that an analysis of the public policy responses to COVID-19 in Europe might make to the debates in the social sciences. Part III briefly presents potential areas for future research that lie beyond the limited scope of this issue. Part IV introduces each of the fifteen contributions that follow. On 31 December 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China, reported a cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia which were said to be linked to a wholesale fish and live animal market in the city. The first recorded cases of what would become known as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it (the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 -SARS-CoV-21) was confirmed in China in early January. The genetic sequence of the virus was shared publicly on 11–12 January shortly after the first death had been recorded in China—that of a 61-year-old man with underlying health conditions. By 13 January Thailand had recorded its first case—the first outside of China—and by 20 January human-to-human transmission of the disease was confirmed by the Lancet medical journal (Chan et al., 2020). The first cases of COVID-19 in Europe were recorded in France and Germany on 24 and 28 January 2020, respectively. In each case, infections related to persons who had recently traveled from China. On 26 January, the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)—an independent EU agency responsible for strengthening Europe's defenses and preparedness against infectious diseases—reported that there was “a high likelihood” of cases being imported into those European countries with the greatest volume of people traveling to and from Wuhan and Central China (ECDC, 2020) and on 30 January the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the outbreak of novel coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) (WHO, 2020a). Over the coming weeks, several European countries implemented screening measures for travelers arriving from China and many airlines suspended flights to and from the region altogether in a bid to limit the spread of infection. On 04 February, a first major outbreak of COVID-19 was recorded outside of China on board the Diamond Princess, a British-registered cruise ship. The ship, along with its passengers and crew, was quarantined for almost a month in the Port of Yokohama in Japan. By mid-March, more than 700 of the 3,711 on board had tested positive for COVID-19, accounting for more than half of the recorded infections outside of China, and at least seven passengers died with the illness in the following month (Mallaparty, 2020). By mid-February, amid increasing cases of human-to-human transmission around the globe, the ECDC considered the risk for capacity in European healthcare systems to be overwhelmed by any outbreaks of COVID-19 at the peak of the influenza season (typically between November and April in the northern hemisphere, which includes Europe) to be “low to moderate,” while the risk to the health of visitors and residents in areas with elevated rates of infection to be high. On 22 February, in what was the first major case of community transmission in Europe—that is, where infection was not associated with travel to an infected region—Italian authorities reported clusters of COVID-19 across northern Italy in the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, and Veneto. In a bid to better understand the nature of the virus, including its symptoms and methods of transmission, and the potential for prevention and containment, ECDC and WHO began a joint twelve-day mission to the region on 24 February. By the start of March, ECDC had identified the risk associated with COVID-19 infection in Europe to be moderate to high, based on the probability of transmission and the impact of the disease. On 08 March, the Italian government became the first in Europe to introduce restrictions on movement and to impose social distancing requirements in the country's most affected regions. The measures were extended to cover the whole country on 11 March as the reproductive rate of the virus increased—the same day the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic (WHO, 2020b). In the weeks that followed, most other European countries introduced similar public health measures in a bid to combat the spread of the virus. The suite of COVID-19 responses introduced by policy-makers across Europe was broadly similar, involving restrictions on economic activity, the promotion of social distancing, and the interdiction of large gatherings, and typically included the closure of schools, universities, and businesses that were deemed non-essential. While broadly similar in nature and design, the modalities, specificities, and duration of restrictive measures differed markedly, as did the timing of their introduction. Most European governments introduced legislative measures to underpin the measures by mid-March, including in France, Germany, and Spain, while a handful of governments opted not to, aiming instead to promote voluntary practices to halt the spread of the disease and to reach for “herd immunity,” whereby society would gain immunity through widespread exposure, as occurred in Sweden and the United Kingdom (see Petridou, 2020; Colfer, 2020a. It is now clear that the introduction of lockdown measures across Europe early-on in the pandemic saved millions of lives (NIHR, 2020). Meanwhile, as the pandemic took hold, economic activity fell, supply chains seized up, and tax revenues dwindled. European and US stock markets reported historic losses throughout the first half of the year as the IMF predicted a deep recession in 2020 and a slow recovery in 2021, with global output projected to decline by almost 5% (Gopinath, 2020). At the same time, government expenditure on healthcare and social protection rose dramatically, as unemployment in the EU rose to 7.4% in August (Eurostat, 2020) and many workers were temporarily laid off. In what may be one of the most enduring structural changes brought about by the pandemic, up to 40% of the European workforce began working from home, at least in part, while many frontline workers in healthcare, transport, and delivery services were unable to do so (Ahrendt et al., 2020). At the time of writing (October 2020), there have been over 34 million recorded cases of COVID-19 and over 1 million deaths associated with the disease globally, of which more than 5 million cases of infection and more than 200,000 deaths have been in Europe. Over only a few weeks, the pandemic introduced fundamentally new economic, political and social realities across the globe. Government responses, and the nature of their implementation, present important questions and lessons for the practice and study of public policy. This episode has also laid bare the capacity, preparedness, and willingness of policy-makers in Europe and elsewhere to respond to an unanticipated crisis as it develops. In particular, differing levels of capacity in healthcare and social protection systems became apparent as the crisis unfolded. The analysis of the onset of COVID-19, and the public policy measures mobilized in Europe in response to it, contribute to a range of related and overlapping debates in the social sciences. This includes as regards: the role of the state; how policy-makers respond to crises; the nature of political behavior; the legitimacy of public policy; and the future of the EU, to give only a few examples. COVID-19 has ushered in a new era of state-sponsored and state-directed activity around the globe, and the crisis has seen a changing and increasing role for public policy in the day-to-day lives of most Europeans. Arguably this episode provides an opportunity to assess the role and functioning of state institutions and programs in people's lives—and even to reimagine what the fundamental role of the state can be in the 21st century. The capacity of states to manage and oversee lockdowns, including by meeting the surge in demand for intensive care beds and personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals and care settings, as well as the enormous social protection costs associated with supporting citizens experiencing a sudden loss of income, was exposed during the initial months of the pandemic (Hassenteufel, 2020). This gave rise to debates about the prospect of fiscal burden-sharing between member states in the EU, as we shall see (Camous van Overbeke Malandrino Brändström Drennan et al., 2014). For example, COVID-19 shows how a similar set of circumstances—in this instance, the onset of a global health crisis—can be managed and framed differently across various polities and political contexts. For example, 't Hart (2014) argues that crises may be best understood as situational in nature, involving events and forces that are largely exogenous and temporary, or institutional in nature, involving factors that are more fundamental, intrinsic and deep-seated, and it is possible that a situational crisis could evolve into or merge with an institutional one. For example, in the case of Cyprus, lesson-learning from the early Chinese experience of COVID-19 is said to have allowed that country to prevent a situational crisis from morphing into an institutional disaster as the country's policy response prevented public services from becoming overwhelmed (Petridou et al., 2020). Relatedly, an analysis of public policy responses to COVID-19 can reveal much about political behavior, and how leaders deal with uncertainty, risk, and expertise. and are an of and risk and the is to what governments do Colfer, et al., during the functioning of institutions is tested and policy-makers make with uncertainty, time and levels of with a crisis COVID-19, governments could a to an issue and to or or a for and political The pandemic presents to understand how and governments to or by on questions of and COVID-19 et al., 2020). The pandemic also questions about the role of in public policy. is between and public health and economic realities during a that on the of (see also and and van and that can present for policy-makers to in the and of a The to which public policy responses to COVID-19 were based on or economic and the to which or were to the in political across Europe and had a major on the nature and timing of COVID-19 can also reveal about how citizens respond to restrictive public policy and crisis are as or can become COVID-19, in some cases at it was clear with a initial restrictions were with by a of citizens and a the was recorded which et al., 2020). The public policy responses to the pandemic and fundamental in the of public in some to of the lockdown measures have been be it against or restrictions on public gatherings, for example, in Germany (see et al., 2020) or from for a different between economic and social as has been seen in (see 2020). COVID-19 as the EU had its of following the from the economic and social the crisis on many of Europe's and the of the UK to a few of the most the from the public health and social protection the pandemic it is clear that the introduction of measures at any time a of and of the prospect of and political in some of Europe's more (see 2020; 2020). the onset of COVID-19 has the role of and on the of workers to many including and 2020). the impact of COVID-19, the of the market and the of the was by the pandemic (Camous 2020). This in to the and around the at a response to the and crises over the and an important for research and of the in this many more and in the contributions in this special issue. are many more debates and that a analysis of this deal that the contributions in this issue on public policy responses to COVID-19 in Europe in the first six months of 2020. we that this issue can a on which future research can be research with a may on a range of and of for public policy that are not in in this issue. In the the impact of the pandemic on the and health of the and on the social that the of public policy as the impact of COVID-19 on the market and the future of The for this is by the role by frontline workers in society functioning throughout the pandemic and the increasing for many et al., 2020). to promote the health and of frontline workers and how to and an workforce be of The the pandemic changes how we and and how and are COVID-19 policy of as of personal are in new for example, with and The delivery of a one be one of the greatest in and future research how supply chains be to the needs of the COVID-19 Relatedly, restrictions on the prospect of the for and the potential to supply may new policy and that research might the impact of the pandemic has been differently across the are with the greatest social and health of COVID-19, while people and market deal with the recession in a and the prospect of economic and social and policy This special issue reviews public policy responses to COVID-19 in more than European countries in the first months of the coronavirus crisis from January to 2020. This includes the the WHO declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, most European countries first introduced on social and economic activity that were to halt the spread of the virus, and governments began to restrictions from While in this issue presents a of how the initial stages of the COVID-19 crisis were by policy-makers across a range of different European countries and including Cyprus, France, Germany, Spain, the United and the as well as in China and at the of the reviews the public policy responses in countries and to the by policy-makers their and settings, and to to debates in the social sciences. The to this issue from a range of and including from political and public and are based in more than across Europe and The issue on a at the for European at in and most of the were at during the The of this briefly reviews each of the contributions that make up this special issue. 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