Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons
By Sophie Soloway’23
Global Editor
In the year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, countries across the world have responded to the crisis in varying ways, all of which have had massive impacts on the health of their citizens.
Asia:
On Dec. 31, 2019, the WHO received word of surging cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan, China. Throughout January and February, the virus spread throughout the region, taking lives while experts attempted to understand it.
As the virus spread, many Asian countries became models in precautionary policy. While governments’ responses varied — and were impacted by economic and imperialistic factors — regional cooperation has led to some protections for citizens.
Today, however, many Asian countries struggle to vaccinate their populations. Israel has long been a leader in vaccine rollout, with over half of its population already vaccinated. However, this deployment has accompanied immense restrictions in supply for the Palestinian citizens, leaving the country with approximately 224,000 total COVID-19 cases.
Other countries on the continent have similarly struggled to distribute vaccines. Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines and Japan each have vaccine rates of less than 0.2 percent, leaving many to continue struggling through the pandemic.
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Europe:
Soon, the virus spread across the world, and several countries became hot spots. Italy initially struggled to care for its sick citizens as the disease spread across the country. This was a time of great sadness for the country, according to Lecturer in Italian Morena Svaldi, who recollected the traumatic visuals her family witnessed. “The isolation was particularly impactful. My mom keeps saying that on the TV every night, [there are] trucks full of bodies, carrying [them] outside of the city. So seeing this, it seems that you’re in a war,” Svaldi said.
Professor of Italian and Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures Ombretta Frau reflected that “many governments acted in good faith. Italy was the first democratic country to declare a total lockdown in March 2020. Taking such a decision must have been hard. Personal freedoms and the right to privacy are at the foundation of democracies.”
Frau noted that Italy’s path to recovery has not been linear. “In summer, numbers were extremely low, so everything reopened,” Frau said. “And in the fall, we were back in an emergency.”
Professor of Spanish and Chair of Spanish, Latina/o Studies and Latin American Studies Nieves Romero-Díaz shared her recollection of Spain’s early experience with the pandemic. “In late March, Spain was the country with the higher number of cases and deaths after Italy in Europe, and without the lockdown, it would have been worse.”
Romero-Díaz also shared that like the rest of Europe, Spain’s ongoing lockdown plan has been largely influenced by economic concerns, often putting citizens at risk. “Unfortunately, every time a wave starts to go down — like now — because the economy must recover, recommendations have been loosening and then back to the beginning,” Romero-Díaz continued. “Like any other government, [the] Spanish government has balanced its decisions of reopening sometimes thinking of health, [but mostly] of the economy, and in my opinion, it is a big mistake.”
Today, many European countries are working to vaccinate their citizens. However, plans for vaccine rollout have been repeatedly stunted, and only about 10 percent of Europeans have access to the vaccine. According to Romero-Díaz, “Continental Europe is way behind in comparison to the U.S. or England. I put the blame on two reasons: First, bad decisions on the part of the European governments [their negotiated contracts],” Romero-Díaz noted. “Second, the avarice of the pharmaceuticals, selling vaccines to those countries that offer more money despite their agreements.”
Frau said that “I am frustrated not at Italy, but at the European Union for having failed completely on the vaccination issue, forcing countries to close again.” According to Reuters, at least 37,375,000 infections have been reported on the continent, with over 1 million deaths related to the virus.
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American continents:
Both Canada and Mexico have struggled to provide vaccines to their citizens, with approximately 4 and 5 million vaccinations administered, respectively. The U.S. has recently announced its plan to share vaccines with the two countries.
In Latin America, COVID-19’s death count reached 600,000 by the end of 2020. In addition to these deaths, the International Monetary Fund projected a “7.4 percent contraction in 2020,” representing the steep economic impacts that the pandemic has had on Latin American and Caribbean lives. Brazil specifically has faced huge COVID-19 rates, closing in on 10 million individual cases in March. Other countries in the region, including Argentina and Colombia with the second and third highest rates, respectively, have experienced devastating tolls and look to vaccines for hope to overcome the pandemic.
Chile has long led the race to vaccinate its citizens, with approximately 34.2 doses administered out of 100 citizens as of mid-March. During the same period, Brazil has administered about 11 million doses, with regional neighbors trailing behind. Twenty countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have authorized the deployment of several vaccines.
Africa:
Limited testing on the African continent has barred the world from understanding how citizens are faring. There have been approximately 4 million COVID-19 cases. While official numbers have demonstrated that many countries are not leading in COVID-19 case rates, many experts note that the true impacts of the pandemic have been much higher than suggested.
Concern regarding the spread of the virus throughout Africa has peaked with the emergence of variants of the virus itself. Similar to many other countries across the globe, South Africa is the site of a discovered variant that is resistant to developing vaccinations.
With the recent approval of the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine, there is some hope for rollout on the continent, which has received little aid throughout the year. Specifically, South Africa has announced that it will sell the vaccine to its neighboring countries.
Australia:
Much attention has been devoted to Australia’s ability to keep COVID-19 rates low. With approximately 29,000 total cases, the country is reporting an average of 11 new cases per day. Early on, the country employed a zero-tolerance travel policy that has effectively stopped travelers — and the virus — from entering the country in high numbers. Almost 250,000 Australians have been vaccinated thus far, reflecting Australia’s possible inability to meet its goal of administering 4 million doses by the end of the month.
The past year has seen immense suffering in every corner of the globe, and inequities in vaccine rollout and health protection have had deadly impacts. Romero-Díaz shared, “Being far away and not being able to be there to support them, to help them with daily COVID needs, nor to mourn with them, and not knowing when we will be able to get together again — well, I don’t think I have words to express my sadness.”