Responses to Covid-19 From Around the World

Beginning in March and continuing into current times, Covid-19 has been the prevailing worry for most of the world’s governments. Many governments have intervened by putting a stop to practices that were once considered normal and mundane. Arguably, a few of the biggest measures enforced are the practices of both social distancing and mask-wearing, along with wide-spread testing. Different countries, states, and cities have implemented these practices in various ways. For example, the United States does not currently have a universal mandate that requires all citizens to wear masks. After an assessment of many state policies however, it was proven that states that have mask mandates have larger and more significant declines in cases as opposed to states without a mandate to wear masks.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Sixteen states currently recommend, but do not require, that residents wear masks in public. In those states — including Texas and Arizona — new coronavirus cases have risen by 84% over the last two weeks”. Though this article was published on June 27th, 2020, it’s sentiments still apply to today’s situation. As cases continue to surge in the US, other countries sharply contrast in both their current case counts and death rates. For example, Singapore continues to report low case numbers, and its death rate has stayed below 30 people in total. These refreshingly small numbers are attributed to Singapore’s early and strict response, mask mandate, and continued use of contact tracing (a method of tracking the virus as it spreads from person to person).

Similarly, New Zealand, as of this writing, has only had 1,776 cases in the entire country, with almost all recovered. As written in Time Magazine, another factor that helps maintain social distancing and quarantining in New Zealand is “a promise by the prime minister that no one would lose their residence if they lost work, a raft of tax reforms aimed at helping the country’s small businesses, and the symbolic-yet-still-appreciated move taken by Adern and her ministers to take a 20 percent cut to their salaries.” When comparing responses of different countries it is undeniable that a low number of Covid-19 cases come with sacrifices. However, it is imperative that these sacrifices continue to be made by everyone, so that we can continue to stop the spread of Covid-19.