By any measure, the United States has not done well in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of this is due to willful ignorance, the rejection of sound scientific evidence. Some is due to the independence-minded nature of American culture. Some is due to the lack of a coordinated national policy on how to deal with the situation. Each state, and even individual cities and towns are on their own in terms of what actions people should take. Voluntary compliance with policies such as mask-wearing and social distancing has been spotty to put it mildly.
As a result, at the time of this writing, 12,772,771 Americans have contracted Covid-19 infections and 262,177 have died as a result. It did not have to be this way. Although many other countries have also suffered heavy losses, none have had as many infections or as many deaths as has the USA. Furthermore, a small number of countries have escaped the pandemic with minimal disease and little loss of life. One such country is New Zealand.
When Covid-19 was first detected in New Zealand, the national government quickly closed the borders and the country went into a hard lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern deserves a lot of credit for making a tough choice, and then taking the heat that was bound to follow as the national economy went into a nosedive. The government’s thinking is crystalized in its motto for the pandemic, “Go Hard and Go Early.” Contact-tracing sent those who had been exposed to a disease carrier into supervised isolation. Mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand washing were broadly adopted by the populace. Caught at an early stage, the outbreak was nipped in the bud.
The lockdown lasted for seven weeks, before restrictions were relaxed. After the initial outbreak was snuffed out, the country went 100 days without a single new case. People were back to a fairly normal, but watchful, mode of living. At the 100-day mark, a new case was reported. Within six hours, the country went into a hard lockdown again. This is the kind of decisive action that other countries have found it difficult to execute. Once again, the swift and strong measures paid off.
The authorities in New Zealand are on high alert now, ready to intervene instantly, should Covid-19 appear anywhere in the country. As a result, thousands of Kiwis are alive today that would have died if their government had handled the pandemic the way that other countries have.
Here are a few facts, as of November 25, 2020:
New Zealand Covid-19 confirmed cases: 2,040
New Zealand Covid-19 confirmed deaths: 25
New Zealand Covid-19 confirmed deaths per million residents (7-day average): 0
USA Covid-19 confirmed cases: 2,772,721
USA Covid-19 confirmed deaths: 262,177
USA Covid-19 confirmed deaths per million residents (7-day average): 4.85
This data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center and from ourworldofdata.org compares New Zealand’s success in coping with Covid-19 against that of the USA. New Zealand has had just over two thousand confirmed cases, while the USA has had almost thirteen million. New Zealand has suffered twenty-five deaths due to Covid-19, while the USA has suffered well over twenty-five thousand. Since the USA is a much more populous country than New Zealand, it is fairer to compare confirmed deaths per million residents. On that metric, The USA currently suffers a seven-day average of 4.85 deaths per million people, while New Zealand averaged zero deaths per million people over the past seven days.
New Zealand is a Western democracy, not that different governmentally from the United States. However, there is a stark difference between the way the national governments of the two countries have handled the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting difference in the amount of disease and death each country has experienced. The United States, and most countries around the world, could profit from looking to New Zealand for guidance on how to respond to a serious national emergency.
BIO:
Allen G. Taylor is a 40-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 40 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 9th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Third Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at wwwallengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.