The top 25 mistakes of Covid mismanagement: Tomas Pueyo

We need to learn the lessons so that these widespread governmental failures don’t happen again. Here are the top 25 mistakes of COVID management I see so far, from least important to most.

25. Infection parties
24. Immunity passports
23. Not knowing who to trust
22. Underestimating people’s willingness to do the right thing
21. Lying to the public
20. PCR test management
19. Letting states fend for themselves
18. Forgetting that good fences make good neighbors
17. Storytelling against reality
16. Not adapting to lower income areas
15. Missing that the virus would mutate
14. Not understanding exponentials
13. Not realizing the value of time has changed
12. Be unable to make decisions under uncertainty
11. Misunderstanding individual freedom
10. Making privacy sacred
9. Challenge trials
8. Seeing nails everywhere
7. Aerosols, outdoors, masks, and superspreaders
6. Regionalism
5. Applying developed country logic to emerging economies
4. Not understanding that rapid tests were a game changer
3. Vaccine management
2. Failing at test-trace-isolate
1. Not learning fast enough

Read here (Read here (Uncharted Waters, May 13, 2021)

Everything you need to know about “vaccine passports”

‘Countries with digital vaccine certificates in the works include Israel, China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, the UK, Estonia, Australia, France, and Singapore. Other projects are more international in scope. The EU Commission hopes to launch a Digital Green Certificate that will allow travel between EU countries by summer. Airlines and various international consortia are in the process of developing passes that would work across borders and facilitate international travel. (These include the IATA travel pass, the CommonPass, American Airlines’ VeriFly, the ICC AOKpass, and IBM’s Digital Health Pass.) 

‘Elizabeth Renieris, a technology and human rights fellow at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and former policy counsel for Evernym, points out that governing bodies like the EU Commission have never rolled out technology close to this before—no interoperable digital passports, ID cards, or driver’s licenses. “How can there be such an accelerated rollout for something that has never been done before for any other purpose?” Renieris asks. “To attempt this for the first time, and to do it at such high stakes with such potentially severe risks to very fundamental freedoms, just feels like a very rash move.” 

Read here (Mother Jones, Apr 2, 2021)

Covid-19: Dangerous dance with complacency – P Gunasegaram

‘Early signals of rising rates of Covid-19 infection should be taken seriously, and appropriate measures enforced to prevent a resurgence in the pandemic. Stronger moves may have to be imposed, such as quickly closing schools when there are cases and delaying giving the green light to interstate movement ahead of and beyond Hari Raya, if necessary. Complacency is perilous.

‘A close look at the figures indicates that we are at a dangerous inflection point, where a wrong premature move in favour of lifting restrictions may send the number of new infections skyrocketing again.’

Read here (The Vibes, Mar 23, 2021)

Covid: The countries that nailed it, and what we can learn from them

‘I have reported on Covid for the past year - now my mission was to find out from global leaders and senior health officials across four continents what their priorities were in tackling the virus.

‘What has emerged strongly for me are four key areas which have been most effective in containing the spread of the virus and preventing deaths.

• Early and effective action to control borders and monitoring of arrivals
• Testing, tracking and tracing everyone suspected of being infected
• Welfare support for those in quarantine to contain the virus
• Effective leadership and consistent and timely public messaging

Read here (BBC, Mar 22, 2021)

Traveling to China just got easier—if you take a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine (Wall Street Journal, Mar 16, 2021)

‘After a year of barring entry by most foreign citizens, China’s government plans to ease restrictions for those who have been inoculated against Covid-19. The hitch for now: Only vaccines made in China will qualify.

‘Chinese embassies in the U.S., Italy, India, the Philippines and other locations say they will provide “visa facilitation” to foreign applicants who can certify that they have received a Chinese shot. To enter China, most travelers also still need to prove they have tested negative for Covid-19, obtain an antibody test, and quarantine upon arrival, according to statements Tuesday.’

Read here (Wall Street Journal, Mar 16, 2021)

‘A can of worms’: Experts weigh in on the vaccine passport debate

‘From Israel to Iceland, several governments around the world are adopting so-called coronavirus vaccine passports as they bid to safely reopen borders, unfreeze economies from costly lockdowns and restore a semblance of normality to social life. 

‘Supporters of the vaguely-defined certificates argue they have a critical role to play in ending restrictions imposed to curtail the spread of the pandemic, at least in countries with widescale access to vaccines.

‘But sceptics say they present insurmountable scientific, legal, and ethical issues – at least for now – and should not be used either within individual countries or as a tool to unlock international travel. As the debate continues, Al Jazeera asked five United Kingdom-based experts for their opinions.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Mar 14, 2021)

Vaccine apartheid or corona-utopia — 6 post-pandemic futures

‘There are two types of people in the post-pandemic world: those who have been vaccinated and those who haven’t. Now, national leaders across the world are considering making that official.

‘So-called immunity passes are already a reality in Israel. With nearly half of the adult population vaccinated, the government announced last month that gyms, hotels, pools and cultural events can reopen for people who can present a QR code proving their immunity. The U.K. is exploring a similar option, and in the EU, experts say a proposal for a “digital green pass” facilitating cross-border travel could easily find domestic applications...

‘Ethicists and public health advocates note that such passes would be wildly discriminatory right now, when vaccines are in shortage. But they could easily become reality once supply outstrips demand (at least in wealthy countries) and restaurants, hotels, airlines and cultural venues seek safe ways to reopen.

‘How they are managed, and how they are accepted, will determine whether immunity passes offer a return to normalcy or usher in some sort of dystopic sci-fi scenario. Using our crystal ball (and a good deal of reporting), POLITICO has compiled snapshots from six possible futures that might be lying in wait for us before the end of the year:

1. Corona-utopia
2. Vaccine apartheid
3. Back to the future
4. Legal limbo
5. Whole new hassle
6. Why bother?

Read here (Politico, March 2021) 

What Europeans have learned from a year of pandemic

‘From the first case diagnosed a year ago at a hospital in northern Italy to the empty shops, restaurants and stadiums of Europe's cities, the lives of Europeans have been changed forever. Curbs on movement have forced every country and society to adapt its rules and rethink its culture. There have been hard truths and unexpected innovations in a year that changed Europe.

• Restrictions are tough for societies used to freedom
• Experts are essential, but mistakes have been made
• The EU wasn't set up for a pan-European health crisis
• Societies have responded in different ways
• A Europe without borders is fine in theory
• Hard truths about how we slaughter animals
• Europeans embraced lifestyle change in different ways

Read here (BBC, Feb 20, 2021)

Immunitee Malaysia's first health passport accepted in Singapore

‘Malaysia’s Immunitee Health Passport has partnered with Temasek-founded Affinidi to become the country’s first health passport to be accepted in Singapore, via Affinidi’s Unifier digital credential platform.

‘The Immunitee Health Passport is a system designed to store personal immunisation records and vaccine data, which helps to facilitate users’ clearance at border health checkpoints, ensure data protection and security through blockchain, and verify the authenticity of Covid-19 tests and vaccines.

‘In a statement today, Immunitee said the Unifier platform provided interoperability, enabling the secure sharing of necessary data with the various national health check systems being put in place globally.’

Read here (The Edge, Feb 10, 2021)

The ‘vaccine passport’: Answers to your questions

‘In the near future, travel may require digital documentation showing that passengers have been vaccinated or tested for the coronavirus. Answers to your questions:

• What is a vaccine pass or passport?
• Why would I need a vaccine pass or passport?
• Has this been done before?
• Do vaccine passports have to be digital?
• What are the objections to vaccine passports?
• What are the challenges to creating these digital passes?

Read here (New York Times, Feb 4, 2021)

EU looks at vaccine certificates to help summer tourism

‘The European Union is looking at a common vaccine certificate to help get travelers to their vacation destinations and prevent tourism from suffering another disastrous year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

‘European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the certificates for individuals who have been vaccinated could be combined with COVID-19 tests for those awaiting shots to allow as many people as possible to travel during the summer, which is vital for warm weather Mediterranean destinations like Greece, Italy and Spain.’

Read here (AP, Jan 15, 2021)

Countries should meet these five criteria before easing lockdowns, study says. Many aren't even close

‘Countries should not ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions until they meet five criteria -- and many nations are not even close, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet medical journal. The research, published Thursday, said that the prerequisites for easing Covid-19 measures are: knowledge of infection status, community engagement, adequate public health capacity, adequate health system capacity and border controls.

‘The authors looked at nine high-income countries and territories that have started to relax restrictions -- Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK. They found that many governments had failed to meet the criteria necessary to avoid new waves of infection, as seen in Spain, Germany and the UK.’

Read here (CNN, Sept 25, 2020)

To beat the coronavirus, build a better fence: Tomas Pueyo

‘No country has been able to control the virus without a fence. Fences are not enough to stop the virus on their own, but they’re a necessary part of the solution. European countries and U.S. states had hoped otherwise. They were deluded. They opened their arms to their neighbours too soon and got infected in the hug.

‘They need to realise that not every country or state is effectively fighting the virus. Why should their citizens sacrifice so much for so long, with lockdowns and business closures, only to waste their efforts when their neighbours visit?

‘And as long as states fail to control their borders, the coronavirus will come back.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 14, 2020) 

Malaysia likely to remain closed to tourists into 2021: Minister

‘Wary of recurring coronavirus waves, Malaysia may keep its borders closed to international tourists until the second quarter of next year, the minister responsible for the travel sector said in a recent interview. Nancy Shukri, the minister of tourism, arts and culture, said the government is now re-drafting a "green" list of countries deemed safe from the virus, as a first step. "We initially had a list of countries to be allowed in, but then we saw the second and third waves of coronavirus in some of these countries," she told the Nikkei Asian Review. "So we have to restrategize our plan."

Read here (Nikkei, August 26, 2020)

Vienna Airport to offer coronavirus tests to avoid quarantine

‘Vienna Airport will offer onsite coronavirus testing from Monday to enable passengers entering Austria to avoid having to be quarantined for 14 days. Passengers arriving at the airport have been required to present a health certificate showing a negative COVID-19 result which is no older than four days, or go into quarantine. From Monday passengers can have a molecular biological (polymerise chain reaction or PCR) COVID-19 test at the airport, and get the result in two to three hours, the airport said.’

Read here (Reuters, May 3, 2020)