There have been a number of good articles about countries who have been very successful in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic. Can we can learn how to improve our response by looking at what they did?
One big reason for the success of countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and New Zealand has been that they responded very quickly when the virus was first reported. It is too late for us to incorporate those actions, but can we learn from this for the future?
Yes, but only if there is a commitment to funding improvements for epidemic preparedness in the public health infrastructure that are long-term. Unfortunately “expenses” like this are often subject to budget cuts in the future by short-sighted governments.
There are two important lessons we can learn as we move forward and relax our current unlock down restrictions. These detailed reports are particularly good at highlighting them.
Japan
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/did-japan-just-beat-the-virus-without-lockdowns-or-mass-testing-1.1440205
South Korea video
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1729976899648
A common factor in these reports, and in fact in all Asian countries, is that almost everyone wears a face mask. Masks have limitations, especially cotton cloth masks as compared to surgical masks, but they do reduce the spread of the virus. The CDC in the US and Dr. Tam in Canada have completely bungled the recommendation to wear masks. They wavered back and forth several times so many people really don’t know what the recommendation is.
But the “authorities” also badly bungled the message and repeatedly said that the reason for wearing a mask is to protect other people from being infected by you. Relying on the altruism of others for action is never the best strategy. In Asia they do not say this is the main reason for wearing a mask. Our health authorities should have said that you should wear a mask because it will protect you when you may not be not able to keep safe social distance, such as when you are in a grocery store and someone suddenly comes around an aisle and laughs or coughs in the direction of your face. The other reasons for wearing a mask should have been mentioned only after this.
On the positive side, I notice in Toronto that a lot more people are now wearing masks, in spite of this double bungle.
The second thing to learn from these success stories is that contact tracing is critical to prevent new outbreaks of the virus. This is usually stated in Canada and the US as conditions for “opening”. But what is actually being done about contact tracing? It’s not easy to find out.
Here’s a report that shows how public health in Ontario is scrambling to set this up and really is not ready.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid19-contact-tracing-ontario-reopening-1.5554850
This reports reveals that the system being put in place in Quebec is being developed at the last minute and is inadequate.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/contact-tracing-quebec-plan-1.5568140
These reports are probably representative of the rest of Canada and the US. We are way behind having this critical capability in place.
By contrast, in Japan, a large network of experienced public health nurses who were in place before the pandemic do the contact tracing. In South Korea they have a sophisticated system that is automated and gets results in 10 minutes.
In North America, as different jurisdictions build up contract tracing capability, expect to see some that hire entry level people at low wages with minimal training. In fact, in Canada, there is a program to recruit volunteers for contract tracers. I wonder what kind of background and training they will have?
https://emploisfp-psjobs.cfp-psc.gc.ca/psrs-srfp/applicant/page1800?toggleLanguage=en&poster=1437722
A few months from now when virus outbreaks are happening, people will wonder why contract tracing doesn’t work here the way it does in many other countries where it has been very successful.
I’m sorry if a lot of this seems pessimistic. But when governments and health authorities are making poor decisions and are not being transparent on issues that are a matter of life and death for all of us, they need to be called out.
There is an overwhelming amount of virus information published by the media, from statistics and charts to personal stories and interviews, but comparatively little well researched critical articles by experts in the field (i.e. not journalists).
For example, a lot of media reports/stats/charts have given me the impression that Canada has done fairly well compared to many other countries. Here is an opposing point of view from a scientist, “How Canada is mismanaging its most significant peacetime crisis in a century”. It has a very interesting perspective — the author is a professor in Epidemiology and Law. It is pretty scathing, hold onto your hats.
https://www.macleans.ca/society/health/how-canada-has-bungled-the-covid-19-endgame/
