Most of us experience far-reaching restrictions on private and public life, introduced by governments all over the world because of the coronavirus epidemic.
Generally, these restrictions make a deep sense from the perspective of combating the epidemic and reducing its harmful consequences.
Different governments take different actions at different rates.
Their effectiveness is also different.
Is a democratic regime more effective than an undemocratic one in fighting the spread of the epidemic?
Or is it the opposite?
What other observations do you have on this topic? Share your opinions with others.
we need to accept few restrictions of our freedom of movement so as to protect community and ourselves from COVID- 19.
CV is difficult to control in democratic settings due to wide range of human right laws. While in terms of the politics of CV is too complex to comment on at the moment as there is no enough evidence to justify my position.
As a starting point, the occurrence of the terrible COVID-16 is giving us many lessons:
1) We all -- the rich and the poor, the democratic or undemocratic countries -- are fragile creatures or institutions at the mercy of unpredictable negative events.
2) Despite being negative, these events show that people and countries tend to forget their divergences and be more cohesive to get rid of the same enemy.
3) United people and countries become stronger on these negative occurrences.
4) I have no data, but in principle a democratic regime will be more effective than an undemocratic one in fighting the spread of the epidemic outburst.
Two things are clear
1. It's easier to restrict people's movement in authoritarian regime than in democratic system
2. Diseases like Covid-19 do not distinguish between different systems of government; everyone is a potential target for the virus
Democracy, the respect of other's freedom. The problem is not about policy but strategy!
Diseases like Covid-19 are blind. They do not distinguish the rich from the poor, nor they distinguish the developed countries from the developing ones. I live in a democratic countries. Even so, people are accepting the government's decisions even those that deprive them of some rights, for example, to walk freely on the streets. The world is global and what happens in a country tends to affect what happens in other ones.
Dear Krzisztof Trzcinski,
First of all, in this problem, there are several important questions to ask. For example:
1. Is human life or human freedom more important?
2. How far are the limits of human freedom?
3. Can people who are infected with a virus enjoy complete freedom of movement?
4. Does an infected person have the right to infect a member of their family or any other people?
There can be a lot of questions like this.
So, I dont prefer dictatorship over liberalism, but ...
Practice has shown that in emergencies, when rapid action is necessary, they are more organized and more efficient in their undemocratic way, ie. repressive systems. They are more efficient in order and discipline and perform the task much faster. This is especially the case in the so-called less "civilized" societies.
On the other hand, in the so-called western too "civilized" democracies, repression does not produce good results. In these democracies, political appeals, scientific persuasion, critique of illicit behavior, fines or imprisonment, etc. are better served.
An interesting example, when it comes to the corona virus, is, that the epidemy in "undemocratic", communist China, more effectively stopped than in "democratic" Italy, Spain, etc.
Regards.
You are free to express your opinion but actions not only words is what we need nowadays!
In these sad days we need more actions than words. For example, we have to accept some restrictions of our freedom of movement so as to protect others and ourselves from COVID- 19.
we need to accept few restrictions of our freedom of movement so as to protect community and ourselves from COVID- 19.
There is one dimension you forget, dear discussants: that you need people who can organise and manage a megapolis like Wuhan; who know about logistics, calculate how many Intensive Care Units are needed and how much personnel must be available, and how much machinery like ventilators must be brought there. It needs a moudlar, adaptative thinking. An before the epidemic you need to train people in various specialties and have a good medical system in place.
Of course, it is easier to herd people, in a totalitarian regime. On the other hand, can anyone guess, whether it is totalitarian countries, or democratic countries, which have the best track record at developing vaccines and other sophisticated drugs? There's the answer to the question! Ultimately, vaccines will solve this, not much else. The rest are short term measures to buy some time.
There are different government regimes in this world and classified in many more ways based on different factors. However in general decisions are made by either one person or group of people in any country who may have either concentric power entirely resting an one person or even distributed power among citizens.
However, the perspective of combating the epidemic of COVID-19 and reducing it's harmful consequences completely depends on the strength of correct leadership not with the type of governing regime. Reducing the spread of COVID-19 among people and complete eradicating of this virus can be executed through a correct leadership, on time correct decisions linked with definite vision and mission.Those measures can definitely save the citizens, the nation and whole country.
Krzysztof Trzcinski According to WHO speaker in my country, he said that this pandemic needed to best reaction and not the best healthcare system. So, regardless the government was democratic or any other regime. Urgently response to this threat is the better action.
In some situations, some freedoms need to be suspended. This is governed by the constitution of each country and international instruments.
Human life is the highest value.
The epidemic tells us that democratic countries spread the virus very quickly because their people do not adhere to what was approved by the leaders of these countries while countries that do not respect human rights, the spread of the virus is controlled by fear because fear prevents these people from violating the strict laws of movement or Human movement with some exceptions ((Iran)) for religious and ideological reasons
Covid-19 has proven that health/life is the most important thing
The impact of the COVID-19 on the world is going to be so big that it makes sense to speak of a world before COVID_19 and after COVID-19. Again, such a virus is blind in the sense that it affects equally the poor and the rich, the developed and the developing countries. So, in many aspects we are equal and there is no reason for the existence of arrogance. In my democratic country all people are adhering to what was approved by the leaders.
That the current difficulties were not anticipated. In the UK, advice has been contradictory and confusing. For example, the tube fiasco.
We, arrogant people who think that we are superior creatures in relation to all animals, are now at the mercy of microscopic forms of living that can kill us without asking us for any permission. No one has reasons to be arrogant.
The Olympic Games in Japan will be postponed to 2021! That is good news for all athletes, spectators and Japan AS a nation in terms of public health and Covid-19 spread...
Fears have been voiced that in some countries the Covid-19 pandemia may be used for restrictions of citizen and citizen's rights...
Today this has been reported for Myanmar...
Germany's Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) has now developed a new online-case tool for Germany like the one of Johns Hopkins University that looks nice and adequate, see https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/478220a4c454480e823b17327b2bf1d4
Germany's Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) has now developed a new online-case tool for Germany like the one of Johns Hopkins University that looks nice and adequate, see https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/478220a4c454480e823b17327b2bf1d4
I think this whole situation is telling us that our system is very fragile and can be unravelled by the slightest imbalance in the world. Scary to think that democracy is so much easier to destroy than authoritarian or dictatorship regimes.
It reminds me of the apostles of absurdity and the Chinese room argument. This does not mean that Trumpeters study Ai. It means that robots are created by reasonable beings. Plato is right. Miseducated literates should neither rule nor teach anyone anything anywhere! No reasonable individual will risk infecting their peers, parents and neighbours with coronal virus. Neither Hypatia nor Augustine; Rhodes nor Luther; Amo nor Appiah, Dubois nor Rosa. The author nor myself. Why do we wait for viral viruses to remind us that we are the most worthless beings on earth? It baffles me.
Russia has said it is not counting Covid-19 deaths. Only pneumonea deaths...
And there is a strong rise in pneumonea deaths currently...
That is a cover-up!
https://www.zeit.de/politik/2020-03/russland-coronavirus-infektionen-zahlen-pandemie?utm_source=pocket-newtab
The varied responses to the pandemic have shown us which countries value so-called economic “freedom” and the “health“ of the market over human life.
At the moment of response to a crisis, democracy doesn't really come into it. Even governments requiring legislative approval present the changes to law as a fait accompli, knowing full well that serious opposition to proposed solutions can be made to appear unpatriotic, partisan, self-interested (or playing politics with human life ).
We won’t know the effects on democracy or be able to compare democratic and authoritarian responses until the crisis has passed.
In Germany there is no cover-up of Covid-19 data but a data transmission problem from cities, and federal states to the federal agency, see https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/coronavirus-wie-belastbar-sind-die-rki-daten-a-13bd06d7-22a1-4b3d-af23-ff43e5e8abd6
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as a scientist in the field i expect that the boundary between Nonprofit Sector and Governments will merge intensively in following period. This may influence nonprofit organizations in a bad way; Firstly, they will probably face a huge rival like states and secondly they will lose activity freedom in many fields.
A pandemic spread of a virus was forcasted for about 20 years (remember Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak, a novel by Robin Cook MD)... Ebola, Marburg, SARS, MERS, all were not in full pandemic spread.
SARS-CoV-2 now is... Not unexpected... And in theory the medicine is prepared... However many death persons... Look at China, Italy, Spain... One answer? Global travel, Global trade and globalization as such helped to spread... And hunting and eating wild animals such as bats and pangolins...
Tonight France has already 1,331 deceased by Covid-19. But France has also said that these cases are only the deceased in hospitals... In the next days the deceased in the homes of the elderly and which died at home will be released... We must wait and see and be prapared to separate, stay at home and take care...
The pandemic is truly putting democracy to test as to whether it is the government for the people and, by the people.
democracy seem to delay preventive measures. For example, the government of Ghana had to seek approval from parliament by quickly passing a restriction order bill, to enforce/ compel people to cease all public gathering, including church and moslem prayers.
authoritarian regimes will not need this
Unfortunately, there are "conspiracy theories" that say the corona virus was made in a lab to intentionally cause a pandemic and intentionally kill large numbers of people in the world.
Nigeria, Uganda, Djibouti, Kenya, and other African countries are gradually halting activities and movements
The German Federal Government anticipates a 2012 coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Government's Civil Protection Risk Report for 2012 was prepared.
See: 1712051.pdf
This is a democratic fight against violations of isolation measures, to protect against a pandemic from a corona virus.
Covid-19 has now spread to 175 countries of the World. Todays ranking of infected persons (Johns Hopkins University): 1. China, 81,000 2. Italy, 80,000 3. USA, 79,000 From tomorrow on it will be America First...
Unusual, in the whole world, full of viruses, the Covid-19 decided to transit to a human on just one market in China from one chicken (?).
Citizens from democratic countries, like people from undemocratic ones, are accepting some restrictions of their rights (e.g., to walk freely on the streets) such that they do not contaminate others nor they are contaminated by them.
Putting the SARS-CoV-2-Pandemia in to a historic perspective 2: Infections and deaths of major virus outbraks from 1967-2020... Note that the CoV-2 data is from 31 January 2020. Today it is more than 600,000 infected and about 28,000 deaths... Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095192/worldwide-infections-and-deaths-of-major-virus-outbreaks-in-the-last-50-years/
To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions imposed by the government (democratic or non-democratic) are the must to follow. If you do not follow the restrictions which are common for all and for all countries, you would put your country, your people in deep trouble.
Can Covid-19 be compared to the Spanish flu? I say no, because in 1918 we had no Antibiotics, No-Anti-Viral-Drugs, Much less knowledge and less technology such as respirators/ventilators... But then, some try to compare it, like this report, see https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundheit/2020-03/sars-cov-2-pandemic-history-spanish-flu-english/komplettansicht
Can Covid-19 be compared to the Spanish flu? I say no, because in 1918 we had no Antibiotics, No-Anti-Viral-Drugs, Much less knowledge and less technology such as respirators/ventilators... But then, some try to compare it, like this report, see https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundheit/2020-03/sars-cov-2-pandemic-history-spanish-flu-english/komplettansicht
Americans seem to have found a cure for the corona virus.
Can blood from coronavirus survivors help other people fight the illness?
In people who have recovered, plasma is teeming with antibodies that may fight the virus. But the treatment beginning in New York is experimental.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/health/plasma-coronavirus-treatment.html
Here is a piece on why Covid-19 cannot and must not be compared to the spanish flu, see https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-is-nothing-like-the-spanish-flu/
That virus-case reveals, that there is no democratic system existing! Control, compulsive vaccination, police on the street to control children who are playing, Lockdown and paople who are worried against each other according to "distance-regulation", no touch, no staying together and every scientist who try to uncover that there is no such danger gets dissed by sozial media… That is not democratic!
Technical Report WCO on Covid-19: Urgent Safety alert – many fake goods around
the virus offers an opportunity for governments of various colors to improve the trust of their citizens
it is comparable to MSG that improves taste by enhancing it. Just a brief illustration. In Australia trust in government that had reached bottom is slowly on the rise because citizens believe that government understands the interest of all , aims for the good of all , and is aiming to deliver. This is a regime that attempts to widespread support. In the USA, the current president depends on the ability to divide the electorate and maximize the approval of the “camp”. His accusations that it is the democrats who brought the virus upon us, that the Chinese virus is spread by Mexicans and other minorities , and that while he wants to open the economy by Easter he is resisted by the “deep state” are intended to deepen division and thereby lock the camp behind him. Examples could be multiplied , but suffice it with these.
Technical Report INTERPOL on COVID-19: Urgent Safety alert – Results of the 2...
The corona virus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease and efforts to quarantine it. As the pandemic has spread around the globe, concerns have shifted from economic to social and political effects .Social distance might lead to more isolation , alienation and radicalization .
As we can see today in Hungary, corona virus is going to result in the destruction of democracy. On the other hand, the new right-wing government in Slovakia, the pandemic is used for the abolishing of the welfare reforms conducted by the previous social-democratic government. The Deputy Prime-Minister responsible for the economic affairs, is a fierce right-libertarian.
The Diplomat has a clear view on China's political attempt to clear its name from China Virus or Wuhan virus, see https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/can-chinas-covid-19-statistics-be-trusted/ The problem is that a liar is again acting openly. Do you trust a liar? Sadly that question must also be posed for the US knowadays... That situatiom must be changed in the near future...
As we can see, the dictatorship law introduced by Viktor Orbán is accompanied by the high support of the population, although it´s apparent that he is misusing the pandemic for the political purposes.
Technical Report EUROPOL on COVID-19: Warning about COVID-19 cybercrime & fraud schemes
Thank you for this excellent question!
Take for instance India, "the largest democracy" in the world.
The total lockdown for three weeks starting the 25th of March 2020 is not a bad decision per se, especially taking into account the possibility of the rapid spread of Covid-19 both in urban and rural agglomerations, the limited testing capacity and the fragility of the health system. This might temper the epidemic and give the authorities, hospitals and experts more time to tackle all the issues. Essential services remain operational.
However it should have been implemented after several days after its announcement. Besides, special exceptions would have been needed. Several categories of population are extremely vulnerable and the government should have found in advance proper solutions for them. Among the most severely affected are the migrant workers (whose number is estimated at over 100 million and who fall largely in the informal labor force category), the rural population and the homeless. Besides, there are recorded multiple cases of human rights violations and police brutality.
This is just one case study to think about.
Interesting: China has not counted persons tested positve that are not showing symtoms... We knew something was fishy... https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/corona-covid-19-china-wuhan-statistik-1.4863551
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This makes me sick! In the UK it has been reported until now only 163,000 persons have been tested on Covid-19. About 33,000 positive... In Germany we have about 350,000 persons tested PER WEEK (still not enough). About 80,000 positive... So all metrics and numbers (JHU) we are reading must be set in relation to sample size... In the UK: 3,000 reported death yet. In Germany less than 1,000... This is no competition, mind, but it is about flattening the curve and about lifes lost! And about management and mismangement, about populistic rulers...
Technical Report EUROPOL on COVID-19: Urgent warning about the rise of fake ‘...
https://www.politico.eu/article/democracy-in-critical-care-as-coronavirus-disrupts-governments/
Allegedly the US government is stealing face masks from partners in Asia, e.g. masks destined and bought by France, Germany, Canada... https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article206992269/Coronavirus-Pandemie-USA-fangen-von-Berlin-bestellte-Schutzmasken-aus-China-ab.html An example of reckless Trumpism...
Technical Report INTERPOL on COVID-19: Urgent warning about COVID-19 fraud sc...
The pandemic validates the essentiality of the state as inherently authoritarian. But it should be noted that democracy is an element of the state and not the state itself. The point is: the content and form of the state is informed by objective realities.
The War on Masks and supply - a case of State Piracy by the USA he US approach under Trump that is accused as stealing is like that: Identifying shipments in Asia to countries like Germany, Canada, France and others, going on the airfield with cash and "buying" the goods which are under a contract already by bribery and threats... I suspect secret services involved (why does the US know the shipments???)! And this is state piracy!
Today more than 700 death in the UK from Covid-19 on a single day. And 4,300 alltogether in the UK (but only in hospitals). Since the elders in the homes of the eldery are not counted and published yet, the number is likely much higher...
The discussion in the US and in the EU is clear: Virologists and Epidemiologists and authorities today are all giving advice to use self sewn face masks in order to slow down the spread of COVID-19 (not as self protection, but as measure of slowing its spread down)...
Whether there is a democratic or a non democratic government, the public must follow the restrictions in the case of corona virus infection.
The Airbus airlift has done it again!
After the experiences of stolen masks for the EU by the US and unknown criminals (Germany got also 6.2 Mio. masks stolen which were coming from China via Kenya) which vanished in Kenya...
Airbus the european Aircraft Builder is flying to China and transporting the masks directly to the EU in their Airbus Airlift. The Airbus 350-1000 flew on its testlflight to China and brought 4 Mio. masks to Germany and France - they will be distributed to hospitals and homes of the elderly in Germany, France, Spain and the UK... At last the EU and even its former member UK are standing together...
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2020/03/airbus-secures-new-face-mask-supplies-to-support-europes-fight-against-covid19.html
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2020/03/airbus-a400m-transports-masks-to-spain-in-support-of-covid19-crisis-efforts.html
The democratic regime is less effective. You would get a clear picture if you look at the situation in China and some other countries of the world like Italy, Spain, USA, UK and so on.
Dear Harasit,
In my opinion, the picture is not clear at all.
That is one of the reasons why this question should be asked.
We do not know whether the information the world had access to, especially at the beginning of the epidemic (including its scale, pace, and ways of spreading the coronavirus), is correct.
If not, this may have contributed to the ineffective response of many governments, including at least in part the insufficient actions in initial preparation for the coronavirus epidemic.
Of course, I do not think that this is the only factor in estimating the effectiveness of the reaction of various governments and regimes to the epidemic.
K
COVID-19 has no clear set of symptoms and it is nicknamed the vicious virus because some do not have any and are happily spreading without knowing it.
We know of 90 year old elders and 3 year old youngstrs tested positive on COVID-19 without symptoms. But in case you have some the may be consisting out of a dry cough, fever but also sneezing (to a lower amount) and also the loss of smell and taste... (data from Germany on the base of more than 44,000 cases)
https://de.statista.com/infografik/21302/die-haeufigsten-symptome-von-covid-19/
The WHO is now testing four medications on Covid-19 in a global study and my little hometown Bremen is participating: 1. Remdesivir (Ebola drug) 2. Chloroquin (Malaria drug) 3. Kaletra (HIV drug which is consiting out of two substances: Ritonavir and Lopinavir) 4. Kaletra plus Beta-Interferon ... The results will be monitored closely and are pooled by the WHO. In case one of the arms prooves not promising it can and will be replaced by another drug/combination... Promising but wait and see... See URL: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/solidarity-studie-der-who-vier-medikamente-gegen-covid-19.676.de.html?dram:article_id=473397
The WHO is now testing four medications on Covid-19 in a global study and my little hometown Bremen is participating: 1. Remdesivir (Ebola drug) 2. Chloroquin (Malaria drug) 3. Kaletra (HIV drug which is consiting out of two substances: Ritonavir and Lopinavir) 4. Kaletra plus Beta-Interferon ... The results will be monitored closely and are pooled by the WHO. In case one of the arms prooves not promising it can and will be replaced by another drug/combination... Promising but wait and see... See URL: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/solidarity-studie-der-who-vier-medikamente-gegen-covid-19.676.de.html?dram:article_id=473397
The University Hospital of Erlangen (Bavaria/Germany) has now got the permit to use plasma from COVID-19 positive persons to produce antibodies for COVID-19 affected persons... https://www.fau.eu/2020/04/06/news/research/universitatsklinikum-erlangen-given-go-ahead-to-produce-covid-19-immune-plasma/
We are all wondering about the data and Covid-19 spread. Many love the Johns Hopkins Universtiy site (me too :); but it is all about the metrix behind, the level of testing, the overall population. This visualization by statista.com shows the different numbers of COVID-19 tests per mio. persons and it really looks behind the mask...
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openmovements/democratic-horizons-times-corona-governance/
We are all wondering about the data and Covid-19 spread. Many love the Johns Hopkins Universtiy site (me too :); but it is all about the metrix behind, the level of testing, the overall population. And it is also about the data sources and correctness. This new, corrected visualization by statista.com shows the different numbers of COVID-19 tests per mio. persons and it really looks behind the mask... And it has been corrected in terms of the USA... (new source: ourworldindata.org)...
A spark of hope at easter time: the numbers of recovered former COVID-19 persons is rising...
The detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is supposed to be an early warning system for its spread in humans... But I think we must also consider Rats (Rattus rattus) to be a new mammal host since the virus is rather inventive jumping species barriers and has also spread to cats and tigers (Felidae) already...
Technical Report WHO on COVID-19: Warning about Criminals that pretend to be the WHO
Dear all, repeatedly I have stated that there is no clear set of COVID-19 symptoms because some get infected and over it without showing any symptoms...
But here I am shareing an infographic that displays most common symptoms (which are more than just fever and a dry cough)...
Technical Report INTERPOL on COVID-19: COVID-19 Crime and Fraud Alert
The first Covid-19 death has Been reported in Mumbai's biggest slum, with 700,000 inhabitants...
En quoi les restrictions sur la vie privée et publique introduites au nom du coronavirus seraient plus fondées et légitimes que les restrictions imposées au nom de l'autoritarisme?
Chapter COVID-19-Pandemie in: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon Online (4.2020)
In the Netherlands a blood donor study in SARS-CoV-2 antibodies has resulted that only 3 % have some - that is still a very long way to herd immunity...
It is difficult to give an answer. I think that both in democracies and in dictatorships mistakes are possible and, actually, in this occasion have been made. In democracies, it is more difficult than in dictatorships to let people accept restrictions of freedoms; on the other hand, in dictatorships the lack of free press can involve a lack of control and of judgment of the authorities.
For instance, Amartya Sen has written in different of his own publications on the greater efficiency of democracies in comparison with non-democratic systems as regards the fight against famines: due to the free press and the opposition parties, governments and administrations are compelled to rapidly act, in Sen's view. The presupposition, though, is that the problem (in case of Sen, the existence of famines) does interest the public opinion, the free press and the opposition parties. Democracy is necessary, in this case, but not sufficient as such, as Sen admits.
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