Читать книгу Spanish Flu vs Covid-19, which is the worst pandemic? - Farzana Prior - Страница 13

It’s not just with data from the Spanish Flu that we can see the value of lockdown measures. The implementation of strict lockdown strategies makes a difference in the spread of the Covid-19 disease as well. We can see this when we compare the average of new Covid-19 cases in the United States to the average of new cases in the European Union.

Between the EU and the US, the EU was first to be hit by Covid-19, with countries like Italy and Spain bearing the brunt of it. The US’ first case was almost a month later, providing a great window that could have been used for preparation. Had this month been used effectively, the peak could have been lower than that of the EU, not higher.

Various countries in the EU also started implementing lockdown measures decisively and strictly, resulting in a drop in the number of new cases. In contrast, the US has been fairly ambiguous and indecisive in implementing lockdown measures, resulting in a relatively small drop in the number of new cases.

The US should have taken advantage of the one month lead time by applying strict quarantine measures to every flight that came into their country, knowing that the epidemic was becoming a full-on pandemic. Covid-19 infected patients and those that tested positive should not have been allowed into the country until they were cleared of infection and tested negative. Masks should have been made compulsory, in the US, as early as March 2019.

As can be seen, preparedness and a coordinated management of a pandemic across regions in a country or across borders with neighbouring countries is key to controlling the pandemic.