|
Could
COVID-19 Reshape Global Leadership?
By Medea
Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies
April 03,
2020 "Information
Clearing House"
- As U.S. COVID-19 cases double every few
days and the death toll mounts, the U.S. seems to be
caught in a “worst of both worlds” predicament:
daily life and much of the U.S. economy is shut
down, but no real progress has been achieved in its
efforts to contain or eradicate the virus.
Meanwhile, the 11 million people of Wuhan in China,
where the pandemic began, are starting to return to
a
more normal life,
with the city’s subway system running again and
businesses reopening. In the province of Hubei
(Wuhan is the capital), 4.6 million people returned
to work last week, while another 2.8 million
returned from quarantine in Hubei to jobs in other
parts of China, a mass migration that seemed
unthinkable a month ago.< But international trade
and travel will be severely depressed until the
world as a whole recovers from COVID-19, so no
country can fully recover as long as others are
still in the grip of the pandemic. Different
countries are trying
different approaches
to the problem based on their own economic,
political and healthcare systems. We can all learn
from each other and we will have to help each other
get through this. COVID-19 has mainly hit the people
of wealthier countries first, because they travel
more and carry it with them from country to country.
But unless and until it is eradicated globally, no
country will be immune.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed timely
and systematic contact
tracing and testing
as the key to fighting COVID-19. This means quickly
tracing the contacts of each infected patient and
testing them, whether they show symptoms or not.
The
results of testing
in Iceland, which has tested more of its population
than any other country, have shown that about half
of all COVID-19 carriers show no symptoms at all, so
testing only people with symptoms without efficient
and comprehensive contact tracing will not stop the
spread of the disease. Increasingly oppressive
lockdowns are only a stop-gap measure, and are no
substitute for systematic contact tracing and
testing.
China
eradicated the virus from Hubei province by
deploying
40,000 medical staff
and doing comprehensive contact tracing and testing,
and this is the model other wealthy countries that
have had limited success against COVID-19 have tried
to follow.
Germany has done
better than other large countries in Europe, with
over 66,000 cases but only 645 deaths.
The other countries
that have tested at least 0.5% of their populations
have kept deaths even lower. As of March 30, the
numbers were: Australia (17 deaths as of March
30th); Austria (108); Bahrain (4); Canada (65);
Estonia (3); Iceland (2); Latvia (0); Malta (0);
Norway (32); Singapore (3); Slovenia (11); South
Korea (158); Switzerland (359) and the UAE (5).
After a very late start, the U.S. has still only
tested 0.3% of Americans, and is still testing
people based mainly on symptoms, not contact
tracing.
Wealthy
countries that failed to respond to COVID-19 in its
early stages don’t have enough protective gear, test
kits or ventilators to treat large numbers of
patients and stop the spread of the virus. How will
poorer countries manage once they, too, are battling
infections that are out of control? High-tech
equipment will be in even greater shortage in
low-tech countries. But fortunately, some poorer
countries are already finding strategies that work.
Vietnam,
with limited resources and without access to large
numbers of test kits, seems to have avoided
widespread infection, despite a long border with
China. By March 30, Vietnam had 203 confirmed
COVID-19 cases, but no deaths.
So what has it done?
|
