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The Effectiveness of Each Country Handling COVID-19
9. Gold, E. Richard, et al. “The Antidote to Vaccine Nationalism.” Centre for International Governance Innovation, 1 June 2020, www.cigionline.org/articles/ antidote-vaccine-nationalism. 10. Suzmann, Mark. “Why We Focus on Vaccine Equity.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 26 Feb. 2021, ww2.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/coronavirusvaccine-equitable-access.
By Jonah Shapiro
The differences between countries have been nothing less than drastic when looking at how they have handled COVID-19; from keeping everything open to regular lockdowns or contact tracing and closing towns, there is no perfect way to combat COVID-19. While strategies among countries vary, countries such as New Zealand and Australia have by far been the most effective and successful due to their detailed government plans, and overall cooperation of their citizens. One major difference between the United States and other countries is that regulations for each individual state are made by the state government, instead of the federal government.1 States and territories with no mask mandate include Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Indiana while California, Colorado, Kentucky and Louisiana require face masks. The overwhelming majority of states with masks mandated have had fewer known cases and a lower positivity rate, proving that masks are effective. While the state governments control mask mandates, the capacity of stores and vaccine rollout, the federal government takes action on travel restrictions, and securing the vaccine for each state. Since President Joe Biden has entered office, many of these federal policies have dramatically changed.2 While cases did start receding January 20, in the month of April, there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases as vaccines are being distributed and businesses are starting to get back up to full capacity. This method of state government determining how to handle COVID-19 has proven to be too political, often causing decisions on mask mandates and the capacity of stores and stadiums to be more political than being based on science and statistics. While the U.S. has had a moderately effective patchwork response, Brazil has fared quite poorly due to the lack of a plan along with incompetent leadership.3 In Brazil, as of April 18 there have been nearly 14 million COVID-19 cases as well as 371,000 deaths.4 Nearly all tourist attractions have reopened in the country along with stores being at nearly full capacity now that restrictions have been eased since late November. To get into the country, one must take several COVID-19 tests, but once into the country one may do as they please. While having a failing plan with minimal action taken, the Brazilian government did postpone the world famous Carnival festival, in order to stop the spread of the virus.5 Another reason for lack of action taken is due to President Jair Bolsonaro. He takes no urgency when it comes to the virus, and overall just does not care for it as a whole.6 He even went on to say, “All of us are going to die one day,” and, “There is no point running
away from it, from reality. We have to stop being a country of sissies.” Due to the lack of urgency from the president, a weak plan to vaccinate citizens and contain the virus, Brazil has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The United Kingdom has been characterized by lockdowns and strong restrictions, which have been moderately effective, but these have been undermined by Boris Johnson’s contradictory words when addressing the public.7 In the United Kingdom, they have reached 4.38 million cases with 137,000 deaths.8 The UK has been going into consistent lockdowns since March 2020 when a surge is an imminent threat or the Government fears of one. Unlike President Jair Bolsonaro, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been thoughtful and methodical when it comes to COVID-19, though throughout his press conferences and whenever he addresses the people, he seems to contradict himself; this has not instilled enough confidence in the UK citizens to believe that Prime Minister Johnson is capable of making the right moves. For example, in May, Johnson put the UK into a full lockdown, though he urged people who could not work from home to go back to work.9 These contradictory statements caused many UK citizens to be weary of Johnson’s words. Since July, the UK has been easing and enforcing lockdowns based on the amount of cases in the country. Since July, there has been an uptick in COVID-19 cases, proving that Prime Minister Johnson’s plan of constant lockdowns did prove effective. In early October they introduced a tier system to justify when the country would be put into and taken out of lockdowns.10 While the UK’s lockdown method has not been the citizens’ favorite, everything started to look up when the UK became one the first countries in the world to approve and start distributing the vaccine, which started in early December. Between all the lockdowns and Johnson’s contradictory words, while his method was effective it certainly was not as effective as it could have been, due to Boris Johnson’s contradictory words.11 Similar to the UK, France has been in a lockdown for almost the entire span of COVID-19, with many of its restrictions just starting to ease up, though they have taken a more strict approach to their lockdowns.12 In France, there have been 5.2 million COVID-19 cases with 100,000 deaths.13 The website Healthcare in Europe states, “Leaving one’s residence is only permitted for purposes which include; essential work that cannot be done at home, for which written proof from the employer must be provided.” If you need to go shopping for food, exercise, etc, it is limited to one outing per day. The police enforce this rule and if it is not obeyed, one is liable to receive a ticket, though again in the recent months, these restrictions have started to ease but not fully. PPE such as face masks and gloves are often still scarce in France, making it hard for average citizens to obtain what is necessary to go out of their homes. A main reason for outbreaks in France is due to ski resorts, this is where many cases are contracted in the country.14 While France’s lockdowns have been effective, in between them, places such as ski resorts have undermined the efficiency of France’s lockdowns and methods to combat COVID-19. Australia and New Zealand have been most successful due to their geographical isolation and strict Covid measures.15 New Zealand has had a minuscule 2,596 COVID-19 cases along with 26 deaths since the virus first
hit the country.16 The country was prepared from the beginning, they had a “pandemic influenza plan”, and braced their hospitals for full capacity when preparing for the virus to hit their country.17 The lack of testing caused them to try to eliminate the virus instead of trying to mitigate it. The government had an initial 7 week lockdown in March. Due to the country’s isolation from all others, and the cooperation of all citizens, this stay at home order worked to perfection. After the lockdown, there were almost no Covid cases, and when there was one, the government created a patient based isolation method in order to stop the spread of the virus.18 On account of the preparation and contact tracing after the lockdown, New Zealand’s method of combating the virus was successful, as they declared the pandemic to be over on June 8th.19 As for Australia, they have had 29,000 cases with 910 deaths.20 Australia has had minimal amounts of Coronavirus cases due to their clear and concise plan to contact, trace and isolate when there is a case in one’s community.21 Australia also had an 111 day lockdown starting in August due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. The Australian government took much criticism from its citizens for its long lockdowns, but in the end it worked to their advantage. Australia is nearly back to normal, only averaging 5 cases per day. They have now even opened up their borders to New Zealand. Each country’s response to COVID-19 was extreme, ranging from keeping everything open to frequent lockdowns, contact tracing, and segregation. Each country will stick to the plan they have created, yet countries such as New Zealand and Australia have proven that their methods of contact tracing and isolation are most effective and successful, so successful, it would be wise to mimic the methods that Australia and New Zealand have enforced, and have been successful with.
1 “These States Have COVID-19 Mask Mandates,” U.S. News & World Report, updated April 19, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.usnews.com/ news/best-states/articles/these-are-the-states-withmask-mandates. 2 “CDC COVID Data Tracker,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Accessed April 18, 2021, https://covid. cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home. 3 “Brazil,” Worldometer, updated: April 25, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.worldometers. info/coronavirus/country/brazil/. 4 Manuela Andreoni, “Coronavirus in Brazil: What You Need to Know,” The New York Times, June 18, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/article/brazil-coronaviruscases.html.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid. 7 “United Kingdom,” Worldometer, updated: April 25, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www. worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/. 8 Garry Blight et al., “Covid Chaos: How the UK Handled the Coronavirus Crisis,” The Guardian (Guardian News and Media), February 3, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.theguardian. com/world/ng-interactive/2020/dec/16/covid-chaos-atimeline-of-the-uks-handling-of-the-coronavirus-crisis. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 “How France Handles the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Healthcare business news, trends & developments, March 23, 2020, https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/ news/how-france-handles-the-coronavirus-pandemic. html.
12 “France,” Worldometer, updated: April 25, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.worldometers. info/coronavirus/country/france/. 13 “How France Handles the Coronavirus Pandemic,” March 23, 2020, https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/ news/how-france-handles-the-coronavirus-pandemic. html.
14 Ibid. 15 “New Zealand,” Worldometer, updated: April 25, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www. worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/new-zealand/. 16 “How Did New Zealand Control COVID-19?,” Contagion Live, August 9, 2020, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.contagionlive.com/view/how-didnew-zealand-control-covid19. 17 Ibid.
18 Ibid. 19 “Australia,” Worldometer, updated: April 25, 2021, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.worldometers. info/coronavirus/country/australia/. 20 Jenny Child et al., “Collaboration in Crisis: Reflecting on Australia’s COVID-19 Response,” McKinsey & Company (McKinsey & Company, December 15, 2020), https://www.mckinsey.com/ industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/ collaboration-in-crisis-reflecting-on-australias-covid19-response#. 21 Ibid.
