Sense or sensibility? Different approaches to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic

The paper qualitatively infers which factors allow public administrations to be quick when an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, occurs. For this purpose we analyze the same type of intervention (i.e. conversion of convention centers into makeshift hospitals for coronavirus patients) in two different geographical settings (i.e. New York (USA) and Milan (Italy)) and we trace the two processes on the basis of a systematic analysis of national newspaper articles. The comparative analysis reveals that there is no one single best way to manage emergencies successfully, and it sheds light on which conditions might drive different modes of intervention from the public sector in emergencies and beyond.