As governments fumbled their coronavirus response, these four got it right.

[W_Heisenberg]

How four governments got their coronavirus response right - CNN

Like a line of dominoes, country after country has been shut down by the novel coronavirus. Despite signs the threat was making its way across the globe, there was a clear pattern of response in many parts of the world -- denial, fumbling and, eventually, lockdown. In our globalized world, it's puzzling that so few lessons were learned in the early weeks of each country's outbreak, when the chances of containing and stopping the virus were highest. Now the focus is on flattening the curve, or slowing the virus' spread, to keep death tolls from climbing further. As much of the world mulls gradually lifting lockdowns, there are still lessons to be learned from these four places that got it right. Here are 12 of those lessons.

I keep hearing from Trump cultists and apologists that "no one could have seen this coming", and that Trump isn't an incompetent idiot, and so on. Well, there is absolutely no reason why the U.S. could not have done at least as good a job as Taiwan, South Korea, Iceland, and Germany. This is a great article that summarizes the things that these four countries did to successfully combat the pandemic.

 

[sjmay]

Oh for **** sake,

Really, Taiwan, Iceland, South Korea and Germany....the only REAL comparison is Germany, and even then, that's what 100th the size,

Such a BS article.....

 

[ttwtt78640]

How four governments got their coronavirus response right - CNN



I keep hearing from Trump cultists and apologists that "no one could have seen this coming", and that Trump isn't an incompetent idiot, and so on. Well, there is absolutely no reason why the U.S. could not have done at least as good a job as Taiwan, South Korea, Iceland, and Germany. This is a great article that summarizes the things that these four countries did to successfully combat the pandemic.

Step one, find a superpower to handle the bulk of your nation's defense needs thus freeing up public funds for other purposes.

 

[swing_voter]

Oh for **** sake,

Really, Taiwan, Iceland, South Korea and Germany....the only REAL comparison is Germany, and even then, that's what 100th the size,

Such a BS article.....

That was my thoughts too. Taiwan and Iceland are islands with small populations and not a lot of tourism.

Germany is the only near equivalent and knowing Germans, they listen to their government and do what they're told. This time, it really paid off.

 

[sjmay]

That was my thoughts too. Taiwan and Iceland are islands with small populations and not a lot of tourism.

Germany is the only near equivalent and knowing Germans, they listen to their government and do what they're told. This time, it really paid off.

Pretty much this....same with South Korea...they have a really....subservient population, for the most part.....but **** let's compare them with oranges and wonder why oranges give better vitamin C boosts......

 

[Taylor]

You can't compare countries in raw numbers. Suggesting that the US is worse off than the UK or Italy is just wrong. Germany isn't remotely in the same league as Taiwan and South Korea. Iceland has so few people you can't really say much.

 

[sjmay]

You can't compare countries in raw numbers. Suggesting that the US is worse off than the UK or Italy is just wrong. Germany isn't remotely in the same league as the other three.

You don't get it, the OP doesn't really like the States, or America etc....this is his MO

 

[W_Heisenberg]

Step one, find a superpower to handle the bulk of your nation's defense needs thus freeing up public funds for other purposes.

Or, do things like find a President who doesn't force the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on security for his golf trips.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

Oh for **** sake,

Really, Taiwan, Iceland, South Korea and Germany....the only REAL comparison is Germany, and even then, that's what 100th the size,

Such a BS article.....

I know it's hard to accept the fact that Trump is an incompetent idiot, but that is what the facts reveal.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Or, do things like find a President who doesn't force the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on security for his golf trips.

Yep, that would have freed up maybe $1.50 per capita.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

You don't get it, the OP doesn't really like the States, or America etc....this is his MO

I love my country so much, I don't want an incompetent idiot, a real estate developer and television star, whose main skill consist of committing tax fraud, swindling sub-contractors, cheating on his wife by screwing pornstars, and declaring bankruptcy multiple times to be handling the affairs of the executive branch. Trump is totally out of his element. He has no idea what he's doing. He spends every press conference blaming everyone else for his own mistakes. Your hero is an immoral, unethical, idiotic, incompetent buffoon, and he proves it every day. Trump is a loser.

 

[sjmay]

I know it's hard to accept the fact that Trump is an incompetent idiot, but that is what the facts reveal.

No it's not, but you think it is, that just shows you how limited you truly are in your analytical thinking skills

Iceland did it better therefore Trump is a moron.......that's your thought process for **** sake.

 

[sjmay]

I love my country so much, I don't want an incompetent idiot, a real estate developer and television star, whose main skill consist of committing tax fraud, swindling sub-contractors, cheating on his wife by screwing pornstars, and declaring bankruptcy to be handling the affairs of the executive branch. Trump is totally out of his element. He has no idea what he's doing. He spends every press conference blaming everyone else for his own mistakes. Your hero is an immoral, unethical, idiotic, incompetent buffoon, and he proves it every day.

No you don't, you clearly hate America and what it stands for......every post you make shows that.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

No you don't, you clearly hate America and what it stands for......every post you make shows that.

I hate America because I want a competent President?

 

[bluesmoke]

Oh for **** sake,

Really, Taiwan, Iceland, South Korea and Germany....the only REAL comparison is Germany, and even then, that's what 100th the size,

Such a BS article.....

And we, the most advanced and richest, and one of the largest in "size", got it wrong. And to this day, we're not getting it all right. All because of Trump. What a BS post, belittling other countries, a la Trump, for getting it right.

 

[Slavister]

Step one, find a superpower to handle the bulk of your nation's defense needs thus freeing up public funds for other purposes.

Defense: US spends 3.2% of GDP, Germany spends 1.2% of GDP

So, Germany may have saved a whole 2% of GDP to be comparable to USA! Or maybe, just maybe, they are not as wasteful with their defense spending? Nah! Could not be! Right? So let's pretend for a second they saved it all on the back of US.

Now, let's see how much they spend on healthcare... 11% of GDP.

So, I guess your claim is if they spent 9% instead of 11%, they would be so much worse off, right? Just like US...

Except US is spending 18% of GDP on healthcare and still is trailing so far behind in its response... Oops...

 

[W_Heisenberg]

No it's not, but you think it is, that just shows you how limited you truly are in your analytical thinking skills

Iceland did it better therefore Trump is a moron.......that's your thought process for **** sake.

 

[sjmay]

And we, the most advanced and richest, and one of the largest in "size", got it wrong. And to this day, we're not getting it all right. All because of Trump. What a BS post, belittling other countries, a la Trump, for getting it right.

A. When you don't have all the information, you are bound to get it wrong. Did we have ALL the information?

B. When you scale it to size, we doing it better than almost everyone out there, Antartica might have us beat.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

Pretty much this....same with South Korea...they have a really....subservient population, for the most part.....but **** let's compare them with oranges and wonder why oranges give better vitamin C boosts......

No. This is so wrong. More U.S. citizens aren't dying because we are rugged individualists. More U.S. citizens are dying because Trump is an incompetent idiot who should not be allowed to managed the affairs of the executive branch.

Specifically, South Korea did large-scale testing and tracing. Read the article:

Lesson #1: Be prepared
Lesson #2: Be quick
Lesson #3: Test, trace and quarantine
Lesson #4: Use data and tech

 

[W_Heisenberg]

That was my thoughts too. Taiwan and Iceland are islands with small populations and not a lot of tourism.

Germany is the only near equivalent and knowing Germans, they listen to their government and do what they're told. This time, it really paid off.

From the article:

But Germany has been able to keep the death rate in its population relatively low. More than 3,400 people have died from the virus in Germany, around four people in every 100,000 across the country. That's well below Italy's 35 and the UK's 18.

Lesson #11: Test more as restrictions ease

Germany's success has also been its mass testing, but its well-resourced universal healthcare system has played a major role too, according to Martin Stürmer, a virologist who heads IMD Labor in Frankfurt, one of the labs conducting tests. Germany has also drawn in the private sector to make sure enough tests are carried out.

"From the beginning, Germany didn't stick to one or two or three central labs doing all the tests. Many private companies were involved, so we've been able to do 100,000 tests a day," Stürmer told CNN.

It's not because Germany is comprised of citizens who just "do what they're told."

It's because Germany has a responsible and responsive government that cares about the needs and concerns of its citizens.

The poor response you see in the U.S. is the result of hiring people who don't think the government should exist at all.

 

[Taylor]

Iceland did it better therefore Trump is a moron.......that's your thought process for **** sake.

Iceland has a fraction of the population of Wyoming. If the virus were to spread to a single nursing home there, they would instantly go from ok response to one of the worst. The idea that the rest of the world can learn something valuable from them is ridiculous. The article is ridiculous. The OP is ridiculous.

 

[sjmay]

From the article:



It's not because Germany is comprised of citizens who just "do what they're told."

It's because Germany has a responsible and responsive government that cares about the needs and concerns of its citizens.

The poor response you see in the U.S. is the result of hiring people who don't think the government should exist at all.

That's hore**** again.....

As of April 2nd, the U.S. had 250 companies saying they can make tests.....the issue is, Germany's population is 83 million, U.S. Population, 350 million, slight difference,

But don't let facts get in your way.

 

[JasperL]

Oh for **** sake,

Really, Taiwan, Iceland, South Korea and Germany....the only REAL comparison is Germany, and even then, that's what 100th the size,

Such a BS article.....

Germany has a population of about 84 million. U.S. 330 million. :roll:

 

[ttwtt78640]

Defense: US spends 3.2% of GDP, Germany spends 1.2% of GDP

So, Germany may have saved a whole 2% of GDP to be comparable to USA! Or maybe, just maybe, they are not as wasteful with their defense spending? Nah! Could not be! Right? So let's pretend for a second they saved it all on the back of US.

Now, let's see how much they spend on healthcare... 11% of GDP.

So, I guess your claim is if they spent 9% instead of 11%, that would make all the difference, right?

Except US is spending 18% of GDP on healthcare and still is trailing so far behind in its response... Oops...

Ignoring your mixing of public and private spending, that means the US is spending less than 6X as much of GDP on healthcare as they do on national defense, while Germany is spending over 9X as much of GDP on healthcare as they do on national defense. That seems to support my position rather than yours.

 

[sjmay]

Germany has a population of about 84 million. U.S. 330 million. :roll:

I was talking land size, but sure.