Break or Bend in Case of Emergency? Rule of Law and State of Emergency in European Public Health Administration

In this article, we ask what the impact is of the role of the EU administration in responding to emergencies in terms of (changes to) the rule of law. A response to an emergency in some cases creates exceptions to rule of law guarantees that bind the authorities to procedural rules and fundamental rights. These exceptions can become more permanent and even change the constitutional order of the EU. We articulate the legal framework for health emergencies, and discuss how the EU court has interpreted and developed this framework in two key decisions. We then ask whether this framework offers adequate safeguards for upholding the rule of law in cases of major health emergencies. We conclude that public health emergencies can bend and even break rule of law requirements for the EU administration, and advocate for more legal guidance on proportionality, which may offer better safeguards suited for protecting the rights of affected parties.

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A stochastic time-delayed model for the effectiveness of Moroccan COVID-19 deconfinement strategy

Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena ◽

10.1051/mmnp/2020040 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

pp. 50 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Houssine Zine ◽

Adnane Boukhouima ◽

El Mehdi Lotfi ◽

Marouane Mahrouf ◽

Delfim F.M. Torres ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Administration ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Administration ◽

Additional Degree ◽

Epidemiological Trend ◽

The Impact ◽

Near Future ◽

Stochastic Time ◽

Delayed Model

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a great threat to public health and the economy worldwide. Currently, COVID-19 evolves in many countries to a second stage, characterized by the need for the liberation of the economy and relaxation of the human psychological effects. To this end, numerous countries decided to implement adequate deconfinement strategies. After the first prolongation of the established confinement, Morocco moves to the deconfinement stage on May 20, 2020. The relevant question concerns the impact on the COVID-19 propagation by considering an additional degree of realism related to stochastic noises due to the effectiveness level of the adapted measures. In this paper, we propose a delayed stochastic mathematical model to predict the epidemiological trend of COVID-19 in Morocco after the deconfinement. To ensure the well-posedness of the model, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a positive solution. Based on the large number theorem for martingales, we discuss the extinction of the disease under an appropriate threshold parameter. Moreover, numerical simulations are performed in order to test the efficiency of the deconfinement strategies chosen by the Moroccan authorities to help the policy makers and public health administration to make suitable decisions in the near future.

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