They all followed a similar playbook that thus far have helped curb a larger coronavirus outbreak.
It seems like some countries have figured out not only how to flatten their coronavirus curves, but also how to send them plunging downward.
From Slovenia to Jordan to Iceland, governments took early action to impose lockdowns, test and trace thousands of people, isolate the sick, encourage social distancing and preventive measures like mask wearing, and communicate honestly with the public.
Those interventions curbed the number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths, allowing leaders to reopen schools and businesses and reintroduce a sense of normalcy into everyday life. Some are now reporting no new confirmed cases or deaths.
In effect, they followed the prescribed playbook for such a pandemic, and — surprise, surprise — it worked.
“At the end of the day, it’s not magic. It’s shoe-leather public health,” Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told me. Nothing is a better substitute for speed and aggressive action, he said.
What makes their feats more impressive is just how different the countries are. Greece, for example, is in Europe — one of the world’s coronavirus hotspots — but managed to escape the worst despite receiving large numbers of tourists and a busy Easter holiday.
Vietnam, meanwhile, avoided a major outbreak despite having a large land border with China and limited financial resources.
A country’s inherent characteristics, then, seem to matter less than the seriousness and speed of a government’s response.
Which means there are many lessons the world can learn from little-noticed coronavirus success stories. Here are just five of them…
To read the entire article from Vox, click https://www.vox.com/2020/5/5/21247837/coronavirus-vietnam-slovenia-jordan-iceland-greece
