The wide range of national reactions to the common COVID-19 shock: observations on causes and effects

摘要

Most countries adjusted their methods of management of the disease in light of experiences at home and abroad. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan in January 2020, China locked down the entire city. But when it broke out again in June 2020, China switched to localized lockdowns, complemented by comprehensive testing and tracking. Sweden had started with the herd immunity solution to COVID-19, but the enormously higher death rate than in other Nordic countries and the absence of a superior economic performance brought about a reversal in its public health policy in mid-November. The continued American exceptionalism of Trump reflects the drivers of his political movement: the tribalist backlash against the multiculturalism in US society; and national security anxieties about the multipolar word order. The irony is that Trump's nostalgic policies caused a disastrous economic free fall that shifted the political middle ground in the 2020 elections toward Joseph Biden.