Terje Andreas Eikemo

Professor, NTNU

The double burden of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis represents a double burden for the most disadvantaged groups of our societies. They are not only hit harder by the virus itself, but they are also suffering most of the social and economic consequences of lockdowns in terms of job loss, social isolation, reduced income and access to general healthcare, which in turn lead to further health loss.

We need to stop the emerging vaccine nationalism and we also need to carefully weight the gains of lockdowns against their long-term health consequences. In my talk, I will reflect on these issues.

Twitter:@CHAIN_NTNU

Democracy & the Covid-19 Virus

How has democracy helped or hindered the fight against the Covid -19 virus? The folk theory of democracy suggests that democracy's are generally high trust societies that allow governments to be more flexible at responding to national emergencies. The governors and the governed are able to coordinate their activities in ways that can cauterise the spread of a virus and escape the worst effects of the virus. Our research shows that democracies have fared very badly. This is particularly true for democracies that are also more egalitarian. We suggest that the most important aspects of fighting a virus may lie in more technical solutions than social institutions.

Indra De Soysa,

Professor, NTNU