THREAD. After tracking coronavirus responses for 7 weeks now, and since you asked for it: here’s my list of ”best in class” responses from around the world to the various facets of the problem. #coronavirusoutbreak #COVID19.
* note: there’s no rigid criteria, it’s a list of what works, be that health, economic, social or sanity aspects of. This list can’t be complete (everything moves so fast) and you might read it after a new development ....
TESTING - SOUTH KOREA: Because they’ve mass tested. This showed:
- Democracies can beat the virus
- How transmissible #COVID19 is to and from young people with mild symptoms
- Importance of innovations like drive-thru testing. cnn.com/2020/03/02/asi…
- Democracies can beat the virus
- How transmissible #COVID19 is to and from young people with mild symptoms
- Importance of innovations like drive-thru testing. cnn.com/2020/03/02/asi…
TRANSPARENCY - SINGAPORE: Combined with readiness (quarantine processes/facilities in place since SARS + H1NI). Add great use of tech (co.vid19.sg) and top healthcare system and you have all the elements for managing risk and avoiding panic. weforum.org/agenda/2020/03…
COMMUNICATION — U.K.: Their plan's been out of step with WHO advice, but Boris Johnson has leveled with people about the scale of the threat. No false optimism, only clear message that many will die without decisive action + admitted 80% may get the virus bbc.com/news/uk-517306…
TEMPERATURES — TAIWAN, CHINA: In Taiwan you can’t enter a public building without having yours taken, and you’re sent home or for treatment if you have a fever.
STIMULUS: The Australian govt didn’t wait for bad statistics, it dived in with a package of around 0.5 percent of GDP, including $25,000 tax-free (spread over 6 months) to many businesses, and a one-off $750 payment to social security recipients and veterans
LOCK-DOWNS — CHINA: Hard to replicate in a democracy, but also hard to argue with the effectiveness of China’s Wuhan lock-down, which provides a long range of lessons and examples for other governments now stuck trying to save their health systems from being overwhelmed.
ENDING MASS GATHERINGS — AUSTRIA: Vienna went all-in over the weekend, limiting gatherings to 5 people. There’s race to drop maximum numbers ever since: 500, 250, 100, 50, now 10 from the Trump administration.
SCHOOL CLOSURES — BELGIUM + FINLAND: Suspending lessons & mostly closing schools, but not shutting out the childen of health-care workers or otherwise cared for by grandparents. New York's making school meals available for collection for those who need brusselstimes.com/belgium/100241…
ONLING LEARNING - HONG KONG + CHINA: 450 million kids are home from school. HK students started home learning via apps in February. In China, 120 million Chinese got access to learning material through live television broadcasts. scmp.com/tech/policy/ar…
scmp.com/tech/policy/ar…
scmp.com/tech/policy/ar…
ELDERLY SHOPPING HOURS - AUSTRALIA: Australian supermarkets, led by the Woolworths chain, have reserved 7-8am for elderly and disabled shoppers. That's to protect their health and ensure they aren’t the losers of any panic buying.
CURFEWS — PUERTO RICO + MALTA: If you’re going to have them, you need to enforce them. Puerto Rico and Malta have fines in place for those who do not follow the instructions, up to $5,000 in PR’s case. About $4,000 in Malta’s case.
CORPORATE SOLUTIONS — LVMH + UNITED STATES: Gold medal has to be LVMH stopping cosmetics production to make hand sanitizer. Overall the U.S. corporate sector has stepped into the national leadership turmoil and led the drive for remote working. Next: Car makers making ventilators
For more follow my weekly newsletter:
Global Translations politico.com/newsletters/gl… or POLITICO’s Nightly corona newsletter politico.com/newsletters/po…
Global Translations politico.com/newsletters/gl… or POLITICO’s Nightly corona newsletter politico.com/newsletters/po…
(And by that I meant Taiwan and also China. Misplaced comma!)
RAISING THE ALARM - ITALY: Li Wenliang was the first doctor-whistleblower in China google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.… and plenty of heroic Italian medics have tried to warn the rest of the world what will happen to their medical systems, if those populations fail to act quicker than Italy
OPENING THE DATA — SHANGHAI + UNITED STATES: Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre released COVID19 genome on open platforms. Now researchers put 24,000 papers in one place - the CORD-19 dataset - at request of White House Office of Science & Tech Policy) pages.semanticscholar.org/coronavirus-re…
SACRIFICING ST PATRICKS DAY - 🇨🇮 IRELAND: They closed their pubs & canceled their parades, and though not the path-breaker have generally adopted many of the above mentioned best practices (everyone thinks their country was first ↘️)
Here’s an excellent example IRELAND of how a national leader Leo Varadkar, himself a doctor, can explain why Coronavirus requires a total mobilization of will and restraint
DEBT PAYMENT PAUSES — ITALY: In a move that is starting to spread (from UK to France to US to elsewhere), Italy was first to allow people to miss mortgage and other key payments without penalty. Student loans another biggie. (Sorry - that really shd have been higher up the list)
HOMELESS TO HOTELS — CALIFORNIA: Encampments of homeless people and refugees are a huge, largely defenseless, transmission risk. California is starting to move some of its 100,000 homeless into hygienic but empty hotels mercurynews.com/2020/03/16/cor…
