HOW YOUNG ACTIVISTS RESPONDED TO THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN ITALY: VARIATIONS ACROSS TRAJECTORIES OF PARTICIPATION

This study explores how young activists in Italy responded to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic using sixteen longitudinal qualitative interviews conducted in 2018 and 2020. Our fieldwork suggests that the Covid-19 crisis did not resonate with any significant shift in the trajectory of participation. At the same time, three major empirical observations with regard to time reappropriation, care practices, and digital activism were made, all of which worked in different ways according to the interviewees' trajectories of participation. This research extends beyond the Covid-19 crisis and contributes to the literature on political participation by providing a way of investigating how activists respond to critical events in different ways depending on their trajectories of participation.

Waves in Cycle: The protests against anti-contagion measures and vaccination in Covid-19 times in Italy

Since the beginning of the pandemic, while progressive movements have mainly focused on social inequalities exacerbated by the sanitary emergency, a number of protests emerged and quickly became visible that initially targeted the policies taken to reduce contagion and subsequently focused on the vaccine and vaccination. In the attempt to account for the rapid development of these protests, social scientists have mostly turned to classical approaches used in the analysis of far-right organizations and sects, looking at broad transformations in society or at fear and a sense of insecurity at the individual level. In this article, we build upon a social movement approach to look at the main characteristics of the protests against anti-contagion measures. From a theoretical point of view, we point to the importance of disentangling the specific waves happening within broader protest cycles. Empirically, focusing on the Italian case, we present a novel development in protest event analysis looking at the specific forms of action, the actors involved, and their claims in two waves of contention during the pandemic in Italy, between 2020 and 2021.

Framing health and care: legacies and innovation during the pandemic

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, progressive social movements have been engaged in an incredibly intense period of contestation. Confronted with the unprecedented extent of the crisis, the current wave of mobilization brought together both older and newer actors, bridging generations and movement sectors, building on past experiences of previous mobilizations while also innovating in important ways. The Covid-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to contextualize the role of past mobilizations in contemporary struggles, singling out continuities and innovation in the forms of resistance, collective frames, and organizational models. This paper focuses on the framing of health rights and analyzes the emergence of care as a bridging frame in the movement campaigns developed during the Covid-19 crisis. In examining the processes of cross-temporal diffusion, it considers the legacy of the Global Justice Movement and its offspring in the current mobilization in Italy. Through the analysis of key documents produced by social movements triangulated with in-depth interviews with activists, we observe the ways in which some collective frames migrate from past mobilizations to new ones, and are adapted through the reactivation of old organizational networks and the emergence of new organizations. [ FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 preparedness-a survey among neonatal care providers in low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate COVID-19 pandemic preparedness, available resources, and guidelines for neonatal care delivery among neonatal health care providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across all continents. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, web-based survey administered between May and June, 2020. RESULTS: Of 189 invited participants in 69 LMICs, we received 145 (77%) responses from 58 (84%) countries. The pandemic provides significant challenges to neonatal care, particularly in low-income countries. Respondents noted exacerbations of preexisting shortages in staffing, equipment, and isolation capabilities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 9/35 (26%) respondents noted increased mortality in non-COVID-19-infected infants. Clinical practices on cord clamping, isolation, and breastfeeding varied widely, often not in line with World Health Organization guidelines. Most respondents noted family access restrictions, and limited shared decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: Many LMICs face an exacerbation of preexisting resource challenges for neonatal care during the pandemic. Variable approaches to care delivery and deviations from guidelines provide opportunities for international collaborative improvement.

International comparison of guidelines for managing neonates at the early phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic threatens global newborn health. We describe the current state of national and local protocols for managing neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers. METHODS: Care providers from neonatal intensive care units on six continents exchanged and compared protocols on the management of neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers. Data collection was between March 14 and 21, 2020. We focused on central protocol components, including triaging, hygiene precautions, management at delivery, feeding protocols, and visiting policies. RESULTS: Data from 20 countries were available. Disease burden varied between countries at the time of analysis. In most countries, asymptomatic infants were allowed to stay with the mother and breastfeed with hygiene precautions. We detected discrepancies between national guidance in particular regarding triaging, use of personal protection equipment, viral testing, and visitor policies. Local protocols deviated from national guidance. CONCLUSIONS: At the start of the pandemic, lack of evidence-based guidance on the management of neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers has led to ad hoc creation of national and local guidance. Compliance between collaborators to share and discuss protocols was excellent and may lead to more consensus on management, but future guidance should be built on high-level evidence, rather than expert consensus. IMPACT: At the rapid onset of the COVID19 pandemic, all countries presented protocols in place for managing infants at risk of COVID19, with a certain degree of variations among regions. A detailed review of ad hoc guidelines is presented, similarities and differences are highlighted. We provide a broad overview of currently applied recommendations highlighting the need for international context-relevant coordination.