How Are Other Countries Responding to COVID-19? How Does the U.S. Compare?

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Early days matter most

• As COVID-19 spreads around the world, it’s become increasingly clear that a country’s response to the crisis in its early days can make a tremendous difference in terms of the virus’ progression in its population. 
• According to Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization’s head of emergencies and a veteran of numerous global health crises (including SARS, bird flu, and Ebola), aggressive responses by China, South Korea, and Japan seem to be bringing outbreaks in those countries under control.
• By contrast, countries such as Iran and Italy - where the governments have been slow to react - show few signs of getting the virus under control.

Effective responses: Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea

Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea have all set out to quickly identify and treat every case within their borders. 

• Hong Kong, which developed diagnostic tests and rapidly deployed them to labs at every major hospital, had 12,000 people in quarantine at one point in February. 
• Singapore, whose prime minister called for calm and assured Singaporeans that all healthcare related to COVID-19 would be free, has been held up by the WHO as an example for other countries to emulate. While new cases continue to show up, the country’s health authorities have been able to isolate cases, perform contact tracing, and quarantine close contacts. Together, these measures have kept COVID-19 under control in Singapore.
• Although South Korea has struggled with many cases within its borders, its effective testing regime has been praised by observers. In fact, South Korea is testing people for COVID-19 at the fastest pace in the world. Its quick testing of cases seems to have allowed early detection of cases, keeping the country’s COVID-19 mortality rate below average.

Ineffective responses: Iran, Italy, and Spain

Iran and Italy stand out as among two of the least-organized countries with regard to responding to COVID-19’s challenge. Ashish Jha, who runs the Harvard Global Health Institute, says these countries’ “lackadaisical” responses to COVID-19 have led them to suffer immensely.

Italy and Iran

• Before COVID-19 cases were first diagnosed within their borders, both Italy and Iran appeared in denial about the risk it posed to their citizens. Then, as people began to sicken, neither Italy nor Iran did much testing; both countries were also slow to stop mass gatherings. Ultimately, both countries were overwhelmed with cases. Italy, for example, jumped from three cases to over 10,000 cases in only three weeks.
• Recent reports indicate that Italian doctors, facing shortages of lifesaving equipment and ICU beds, are being forced to make extraordinary, painful decisions about rationing care.

Spain

• Spain - whose healthcare system is groaning under the weight of COVID-19 - has similarly struggled to mount an effective response to the virus.
• The central government’s attempts to impose strict measures - such as curfews and shelter-in-place policies - are being undercut by certain regional governments that have historically opposed the central government’s attempts to interfere in their local affairs. The upshot of this politicized, fragmented response is that about 8,000 people are infected in the country, and almost 300 are dead.

Sound off: Do you think the U.S. response to COVID-19 is more like those of Singapore, Hong Kong, or South Korea or those of Iran, Italy, or Spain?

—Lorelei Yang