Some countries have controlled Covid-19 much more effectively than other countries:
Sweden’s diplomatic isolation in the Nordics has coincided with a more critical tone from Swedish media.
“In the short run, it might be fair to say that Sweden is isolated. The general tone of people and the press is that they are more critical. The general public is waking up to the fact that neighbouring countries and others are critical,” said a European diplomat in Stockholm.
Sweden has had 4,468 Covid-19 deaths whereas Denmark and Norway, each with about half their neighbour’s population, have had 580 and 237, respectively. Both Copenhagen and Oslo said the higher infection rate in Sweden was behind their decision not to open their borders to Swedes.
This creates anomosity:
“People are saying, especially in my constituency, ‘If we can’t go to Copenhagen, then why can the Danes come to Malmo?’ In the long run, it’s a really bad sentiment that goes against deepening co-operation and trust in the Nordic region.”
This is also making Swedes wonder if they made a mistake:
The architect of Sweden’s controversial lighter lockdown policy for dealing with coronavirus has for the first time conceded the Scandinavian country should have imposed more restrictions to avoid having such a high death toll.
I agree that Sweden blew it, but I’m not sure a lack of “mandates” was the key problem. Rather the Swedish government seemed content to rely on herd immunity, which is not likely to be an effective approach to the problem.
Japan has done much better, without a lot of mandates:
“Japan realised what was happening and started reacting before the virus took hold,” said Satoshi Hori, an expert on infection control and a professor at Juntendo University. “It was a locational advantage.”
Without any official instruction, the public began hand-sterilising, wearing masks and social distancing of its own accord.
“Everyone wore masks to protect themselves but the real effect was to reduce spreading by asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19,” said Prof Hori. “It may have been luck but it did make a difference.”
Japan used a particular approach to contact tracing. “Most other countries adopted what we call prospective tracing,” said Shigeru Omi, head of the expert panel advising Mr Abe on the virus. “The cluster-based approach uses thorough retrospective contact tracing to identify common sources of infection.”
In prospective tracing, the close contacts of a Covid-19 case are monitored so they can be quarantined if they show symptoms. Japan’s approach also tries to find out where they were infected, be it a nightclub or a hospital, and then monitor people who visited that site.
Four out of five coronavirus patients do not infect anyone else, so Dr Omi said that finding the superspreaders was a more efficient way to control the disease.
Nationalism is also an increasing problem in China, where foreigners (especially blacks) are viewed with increased suspicion and are severely discriminated against in housing and services. This discrimination is both unethical and irrational. But it’s also sadly predictable given that China has a far lower rate of Covid-19 infection than most other countries.
And no, the pandemic does not show that it’s a mistake to rely on foreign sources of drugs:
An official from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Congress on Tuesday that the COVID-19 pandemic did not cause any countries to curtail shipments of pharmaceutical drugs to the United States—a bit of information that should serve to quell the nationalist panic over America’s health care supply chains.
And LOL, no matter how out there I get with my predictions of a post-physical future, I still can’t keep up with reality:
While the Faroe Islands closed its borders to travellers and tourists, the tourism board responded by inviting visitors to explore the archipelago virtually. Remote Tourism by Visit Faroe Islands allows you to experience the dramatic landscapes and beautiful nature of the Faroe Islands from anywhere in the world with their live-streamed tours through the eyes of a local.