Overview

Parallel Pandemic Project

The United States and Pakistan are two very different countries facing a common, invisible existential threat. With a combined population of over 500 million people, COVID-19 has both societies reeling as they face an uncertain future. How these two nations react will reflect their very different ways of life, as well as their common humanity. Viewed as extreme exogenous shock to both societies, COVID-19 is putting the cultural institutional framework of both the United States and Pakistan through a stress test. Social scientists have the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of this framework and think about therapies for the nations going forward.

The Parallel Pandemic Project (PPP) is an effort to document and understand when and how the paths of the United States and Pakistan converge and diverge over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is multi-faceted in that it attempts a more thorough understanding of crises responses across many social institutions through the lens of the response to COVID-19 in Pakistan and the United States.

Phase I
The first phase of the PPP began in the Summer of 2020. Students and faculty in the social sciences at George Mason University (Mason) and the University of Karachi (UoK) held a series of informal, virtual conversations and classroom exchanges to discuss how their respective societies were reacting to the public health threat of COVID-19. The themes discussed in phase one include:

• Healthcare Systems
• Economy
• Policy Implementation
• Legislative Responses
• Religion
• Family
• Educational System
• Media

Phase II
The second phase of the PPP began in the Fall of 2020 and is a more formal approach to assessing crisis response through multiple research proposals with faculty and students from George Mason University (Mason) and the University of Karachi (UoK).

The Parallel Pandemic Project has been made possible through the generous support of the U.S. Consulate General – Karachi