Taiwan's carrot-and-stick approach to virus fight wins praise, but strains showing

In Japan, the southwestern region of Kansai is less predicated by government oversight and relies more strongly on independence. In the Wakayama prefecture, that attitude has resulted in the region's leaders implementing an independent approach to battling the coronavirus outbreak. The approach, which utilizes widespread testing and contact tracing, is now being regarded by other regions as a model of success.

Long the target of jail-reduction advocates, New York City’s Rikers Island jail released more than one-quarter of its inmates within the first two months of a coronavirus outbreak behind bars. The early releases stemmed from a combination of factors: a strategy to limit the spread of the virus, a result of a new state law limiting the imposition of cash bail, and a significant drop in crime during New York’s social-distancing lockdown. Police complained that large numbers of those released committed new crimes, but decarceration advocates say the releases on the whole were conducted safely.

Doctors and staff at Howard Brown Health, a Chicago health center for LGBTQ patients, is using its years of experience in containing and treating HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases with contact tracing to help contain the spread of Covid-19. The conversations can sometimes be emotional and difficult. The team has found some people are afraid to get the test and others who have lost a loved one to the virus. They have interviewed over 200 people, with many more in the pipeline, and about 65% of those they talked to also tested positive for Covid-19.

신종 코로나바이러스 확산 초기, 마스크 대란에 대처하기 위해 대만 정부는 '마스크 실명제', '마스크 맵' 서비스 등을 주도적으로 시행하며 위기에 적극적으로 대응하는 모습을 보여주었습니다.

진단 제품 긴급사용승인제도, 선별진료 및 드라이브스루 진료, 정확도 높은 검사법 채택 등을 통해 한국은 단시간 내에 기록적인 양의 코로나19 검사를 시행할 수 있었습니다.

The population of Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, made the region a hotspot for coronavirus transmission, but local officials' aggressive action plan – which included testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and increased sanitation efforts – helped quell the spread of the virus. Although the process was challenging for local doctors and the shutdown of normal day-to-day routines had a negative impact on the region's economy, Dharavi has already been able to begin the process of reopening.

During the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, early efforts at contact tracing by different states in the U.S. proved successful when they relied on people instead of applications or software, which showed high rates of failure since people didn't seem to want to participate or download the applications. New York state relied on human contact tracers, specifically those who lived in the neighborhoods they track. "The city’s initiative has shown early success: As of June 16, it had reached 94% of all new positive cases."

Contact tracing apps have received a lot of attention since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, but researchers caution they should be used in conjunction with other tactics and not be relied on to help on their own. However, an early study has indicated that even when only fifteen percent of the population downloads a contact tracing app, infection rates are reduced by eight percent and deaths are reduced by six percent.

A team of volunteers at the University of Arizona is helping to bolster contact tracing efforts during the pandemic by working in tandem with those who have been trained by the Arizona Department of Health Services. Although federal health privacy restrictions limit what the volunteers can ask and in what order they must do so, the volunteer team "has made about 9,000 case investigations calls and contacted over 1,000 people exposed to the virus."

Organisés en collectifs formels et informels, des "soignants de ville" ont tout fait pour réduire l’afflux de patients vers l’hôpital en pleine crise sanitaire et ont, eux aussi, sauvé des vies. Les soignants du 20ème arrondissement de Paris estiment à une centaine le nombre de morts évitées par leur auto-organisation pendant la première vague de l’épidémie.