The Final Act: Exploring the End of Pandemics

This contribution considers how adjudicators could determine the end of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Considerable work examines the beginning and existence of pandemics and emergencies. By contrast, when either of these two phenomena end remains underexplored – creating legal uncertainty. This article reviews how pandemics as biological and social events, end, considers how international bodies have approached the end of emergencies, and assesses what this might mean for adjudicators deciding on the end of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic and related public health emergency.

Keywords: SARS-Cov-2, pandemic, endemic, emergency, International Health Regulations, State Responsibility, defenses

JEL Classification: I18, K33

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Paddeu, Federica and Waibel, Michael, The Final Act: Exploring the End of Pandemics (July 15, 2020). Forthcoming 114 (3) American Journal of International Law (2020), University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 27/2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3652465 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3652465