Tribune. In early November, Covid-19 was spreading across the United States at the rate of 100,000 new contaminations per day. By mid-November, this figure approached 180,000 daily cases and continued to climb [ce texte a été initialement publié aux Etats-Unis le 18 novembre]. In the face of this surge in cases, a number of politicians, journalists and business figures are proclaiming that the economic and health damage from containment is as serious, if not worse, than that caused by the virus they are supposed to ward off.
A precise analysis of the data of the last ten months, coming from dozens of countries around the world, nevertheless makes it possible to affirm with certainty that these statements are erroneous. Strict containments work and give results quickly, between four and six weeks after their initiation. They have managed not only to slow down, but to virtually eliminate the virus in Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, China, South Korea and Taiwan. This analysis thus makes it possible to formulate seven recommendations for governments and citizens.
1. Start by saving lives
Limiting the economic damage of the pandemic begins and ends with controlling the spread of the virus. Countries that have taken rapid action to control the circulation of Covid-19 are gradually reopening their economies and finding their way back to growth. Most of those who have given themselves the priority objective of supporting the economy and have refused, limited, or prematurely removed measures to control the pandemic are now facing soaring contamination rates and have had to impose re-controls. national.
The infographic below is a rough representation of how effectively each country has protected its citizens, relative to the total cost that this represented.
When we take into account all the costs of the response to the pandemic – including those whose resolution will be spread over the years to come – the different national strategies clearly stand out from each other. Countries that quickly focused on controlling and eliminating the coronavirus, thereby choosing to sacrifice their economies in order to limit the spread of the virus and save lives, appear at the top of the table, along the dotted line green.
The countries that have limited their response to the pandemic in favor of stimulus measures, preferring to save the economy rather than the lives of their citizens, are distributed along the red diagonal. Those who have been slow to react or have hesitated between several strategies are grouped in the center, like the United Kingdom, and suffer the worst of both extremes.
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