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Contribution to Book
Love for Heritage in the Time of Covid-19: Pandemics and Preparedness
The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy: Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment (2022)
  • Jack Tsen-Ta Lee
Abstract
It is inevitable that 2019 and 2020 will long be remembered as the time when most countries in the world were affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that, in severe cases, may lead to pneumonia and multi-organ failure. The World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic on March 11, 2020. In an effort to stem the transmission of the virus, many jurisdictions have legally required most of their populations to stay home and have ordered the closure to the public of cultural institutions such as heritage sites and museums. In a situation where staff are mostly working from home and there are few, if any, employees on site, such institutions and the artefacts they hold may be left vulnerable to damage and looting. Moreover, how cultural institutions can maintain their relevance as heritage resources may be a challenge both during and after the pandemic. This chapter considers what cultural institutions may do to address these challenges, and what the law and government policies can do to assist.
Keywords
  • COVID-19,
  • heritage preparedness,
  • pandemics
Publication Date
September, 2022
Editor
John Travis Marshall, Ryan Rowberry and Susan S Kuo
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
978-1-108-48857-0
DOI
10.1017/9781108770903.029
Citation Information
Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, "Love for Heritage in the Time of Covid-19: Pandemics and Preparedness" in John Travis Marshall, Ryan Rowberry and Susan S Kuo (editors), The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy: Risk, Recovery and Redevelopment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), chapter 28, 451–467