Cross-Country Comparisons of Covid-19: Policy, Politics and the Price of Life.

ABSTRACT: Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over half a million people world-wide and this death toll continues to rise rapidly each day. In the absence of a vaccine, non-clinical preventative measures have been implemented as the principal means of limiting deaths. However, these measures have caused unprecedented disruption to daily lives and economic activity. Given this developing crisis, the potential for a second wave of infections and the near certainty of future pandemics, lessons need to be rapidly gleaned from the available data. We address the challenges of cross-country comparisons by allowing for differences in reporting and variation in underlying socio-economic conditions between countries. Our analyses show that, to date, differences in policy interventions have out-weighed socio-

SUBMITTER: Balmford B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7400753 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature