Handling the coronavirus crisis

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Success cases, what do they have in common?

• California (1041 deaths) versus New York (17,131 deaths)
  
• South Korea (232 deaths) versus the US (37,175 deaths)
  
• Germany (4352 deaths) versus France (18,681 deaths)
  
• Denmark (346 deaths) versus Sweden (1511 deaths)
  
• Taiwan (6 deaths)
  
• New Zealand (11 deaths)
  
• Iceland (9 deaths)
  

Denmark versus Sweden are figures from 4/18/20, the others are from 4/17/20.

What did the successful countries do?

• Early intervention, when something grows exponentially speed is of the essence
  
• Massive testing, contract tracking and isolation to prevent outbursts
  
• Often lockdowns as an additional measure
  

In short, what they did was:

   

Take for instance France versus Germany on early and massive testing:

France had the continent’s first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, but the French government failed for weeks to take decisive action to impose strict social distancing measures or promote large-scale testing. Germany, on the other hand, immediately began aggressively testing and tracking people with symptoms. Now, France is under lockdown and has just extended it until at least May 11. Meanwhile, Germany plans to reopen part of its economy next week.

Coronavirus: Why France has 4 times as many deaths as Germany - Vox

Or Denmark on early lockdown:

When Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen told citizens they would be going into lockdown, the only other country in Europe to have done so was Italy – a nation which had seen hundreds of coronavirus deaths and more than 12,000 infections. In Denmark, where no one had died, the number confirmed to have contracted the virus was closer to 500. A month on and that response, which saw the government in Copenhagen break away from advice of European partners and even its own health officials, appears to have paid off. On Monday, Denmark lifted more lockdown restrictions and allowed beauty salons and hairdressers to reopen, having opened schools a week earlier..

When Ms Frederisken made her speech, Denmark had identified 514 cases compared to the UK’s 456. In just over a month, Denmark suffered just 355 deaths and 7,711 cases, compared to the UK's 16,000 deaths and 120,000 cases. The UK did not enter lockdown until 23 March. 

Coronavirus: How early lockdown helped Denmark flatten the curve | The Independent

Or South Korea's massive testing and tracking

After seeing an initial spike in COVID-19 infections in February, South Korea implemented several measures to bring the disease’s spread under control, a progression I’ve followed as a researcher on public policy. South Korea was able to lower the number of new infections from 851 on March 3 to 22 infections as of April 17 and the mortality rate from COVID-19 hovers around 2%. Several measures contribute to Korea’s success, but two measures were critical in the country’s ability to flatten the curve: extensive testing for the disease and a national system for promptly and effectively tracking people infected with COVID-19..

How South Korea flattened the coronavirus curve with technology