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posted by Fnord666 on Monday May 18 2020, @10:08AM   Printer-friendly

COVID-19 Has Blown Away the Myth About 'First' and 'Third' World Competence:

One of the planet's – and Africa's – deepest prejudices is being demolished by the way countries handle COVID-19.

For as long as any of us remember, everyone "knew" that "First World" countries – in effect, Western Europe and North America – were much better at providing their citizens with a good life than the poor and incapable states of the "Third World". "First World" has become shorthand for competence, sophistication and the highest political and economic standards.

[...] So we should have expected the state-of-the-art health systems of the "First World", spurred on by their aware and empowered citizens, to handle COVID-19 with relative ease, leaving the rest of the planet to endure the horror of buckling health systems and mass graves.

We have seen precisely the opposite.

[...] [Britain and the US] have ignored the threat. When they were forced to act, they sent mixed signals to citizens which encouraged many to act in ways which spread the infection. Neither did anything like the testing needed to control the virus. Both failed to equip their hospitals and health workers with the equipment they needed, triggering many avoidable deaths.

The failure was political. The US is the only rich country with no national health system. An attempt by former president Barack Obama to extend affordable care was watered down by right-wing resistance, then further gutted by the current president and his party. Britain's much-loved National Health Service has been weakened by spending cuts. Both governments failed to fight the virus in time because they had other priorities.

And yet, in Britain, the government's popularity ratings are sky high and it is expected to win the next election comfortably. The US president is behind in the polls but the contest is close enough to make his re-election a real possibility. Can there be anything more typically "Third World" than citizens supporting a government whose actions cost thousands of lives?


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday May 18 2020, @10:54AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 18 2020, @10:54AM (#995673) Journal

    All factors being equal, the criticism would be correct. However, there are (at least) three mayor differences: age structure, climate, and genetics. All three combined easily explain the current state of affairs despite worse measures and health systems in place in "third world" countries. Let's just be grateful they got away this time.

    Interesting hypothesis you have there. From your position, address this then:

    One stand-out is Senegal, which has devised a cheap test for the virus and has used 3-D printing to produce ventilators at a fraction of the going price. Africa, too, has experienced recent outbreaks, notably of Ebola, and seems to have learned valuable lessons from them.

    Maybe instead of "Let's just be grateful they got away this time." we'd be better with "Let's not just be grateful, but maybe start to learn something"?

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  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by shrewdsheep on Monday May 18 2020, @02:07PM (4 children)

    by shrewdsheep (5215) on Monday May 18 2020, @02:07PM (#995770)

    Contact tracing and isolation has proven ineffective. That was the initial plan. Otherwise, I only see big strawmen here. Price of the tests has never been an issue, only capacity. Even if that were true, there is no indication that this is what has kept infections low over there (I did argue to the contrary). As much as I would wish there would be something to learn, I do not see what.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday May 18 2020, @02:35PM (1 child)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 18 2020, @02:35PM (#995800) Journal

      Contact tracing and isolation has proven ineffective in US

      FTFY. Because in Australia, that's exactly what we do and it works [worldometers.info]. The latest cluster of infections, in the low tens, were traced, other contacts identified, tested and yet asymptomatic infections were identified and isolated before they could spread it further.

      As for why this has been proven ineffective in US? I don't know, a decent hypothesis is maybe because the usians covidiots [urbandictionary.com] are in larger numbers and more foolishly active [independent.co.uk] than in Australia.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @07:57PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @07:57PM (#995983)

        As for why this has been proven ineffective in US? I don't know, a decent hypothesis is maybe because the usians covidiots [urbandictionary.com] are in larger numbers and more foolishly active [independent.co.uk] than in Australia.

        I think the reasons behind that are simple, and they rhyme with "bump."

    • (Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Monday May 18 2020, @03:43PM

      by Barenflimski (6836) on Monday May 18 2020, @03:43PM (#995870)

      Where are you referring to when you say that this has been ineffective?

      In most of the U.S., as in just about everywhere but New York City, NY, the health care system's were not overwhelmed. The hospitals between New York state and California are mostly empty. The "curve" wasn't just flattened, it was obliterated.

      In places where you aren't crammed into small confined spaces this works just fine, which is most of the the United States.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Monday May 18 2020, @03:56PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 18 2020, @03:56PM (#995883) Journal

      Contact tracing is ineffective if you don't do it. Similarly for quarantine. Telling people to stay home when you know they're infected and not enforcing it is not quarantine. Telling it to people who CAN'T stay home is more foolishness than quarantine.

      The US has not used either contact tracing OR quarantine. And you need to use both of them. Even so that wouldn't get everyone, because of asymptomatic carriers, but it would cut the number down low enough that those could be identified and either quarantined or treated. (There are reports that plasma works to treat asymptomatic spreaders, though I'd need more evidence to be certain.)

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