Why is Asia better at managing coronavirus than Europe

Hygiene and quarantine are among the reasons why the densely populated countries of East Asia were able to more quickly control the spread of COVID-19.

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My friend Xiao is from Beijing. She came to study in the USA 8 years ago, speaks almost without accent and is very Americanized. I felt the only significant cultural difference between us when, out of habit, I tried to say hello to my arms (as I usually do with all my friends), but she recoiled a little. It was obvious that she was not used to it.

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I asked her how friends say hello in China. They smile, wave their hands or send a “kiss,” but rarely shake hands and never hug and kiss, she replied.

Our Colombian neighbors Natalia and Victor came to the United States a year and a half ago. They are loud, funny, cool reggaeton dancing, walking in their apartment in shoes and hugging tightly when they see friends of any gender - both with the guys and the girls. Italians, French, and Spaniards usually do the same.

The first news about the coronavirus in China, Xiao and her husband, also from Beijing, did not scare. However, after the news about the possible first cases of the disease in Washington and the adjacent states of Maryland and Virginia, they became one of my first acquaintances, of different nationalities, who limited their social life: they started working from home, stopped going to the gym, to shops and restaurants.

Meanwhile, after the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in the world, and the US authorities called on Americans to isolate themselves, my Colombian friends continued to shop and meet their friends, in particular, another Colombian couple who has a 5-year-old child.

The situation with crowded minibuses in Kiev after the metro was closed showed that Ukrainians in this are more likely to resemble Colombians than Chinese. As well as Italians, French, Germans and British, who in every way ignored quarantine.

Timely Quarantine

Even taking into account individual characteristics, it is impossible to ignore the enormous cultural difference between these peoples, and most likely civilizations. Residents of East Asian countries - Chinese, Japanese and Koreans - are credited with cleanliness and zeal, in particular in the implementation of parental orders or authorities.

In my opinion, national traits have helped East Asian countries avoid further spread of COVID-19. If you look at the total number of patients, China is certainly the leader - more than 80, but 000 billion 1 million people live there (433 patient per 1 thousand population). For comparison, in Italy with a population of sixty million there are 18 thousand cases (36 patient per 1 thousand population). That's 1,7 times more!

Moreover, the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, began two and a half months ago, and in Italy - only a month, so it is worth analyzing the pace of distribution.

The sixty-millionth province of Hubei should be considered separately, because the Chinese authorities did not have time to contain the virus in Wuhan, but did not allow the same massive infection in the rest of the country.

One can talk about the enormous opportunities that the Chinese Communist Party has, but South Korea and Japan have a similar tendency: the pace of infection has been taken under control. In contrast to these countries, in Western Europe and the USA we see a disappointing direction of the curve on the graph, which indicates a rapid increase in the number of cases of infection.

Decisive measures on the part of the authorities - the announcement of quarantine, the termination of transport communications, the closure of borders, and the observance of these rules among the population - helped China, South Korea and Japan to slow down the rate of infection. At the same time, Europe and the United States lingered more. Interestingly, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan - China's neighbors and No. 2, 3, 9 and 24 in the world in terms of population density (Monaco in the first place) - were not even included in the top ten in the number of confirmed cases.

Asian cleanliness

Another reason may be that locals have long been accustomed to living in multimillion-dollar cities, traveling in crowded metro cars, so they have developed clear hygiene rules and adhere to them.

They are used to the fact that dirt and bacteria can be invisible, and if something has a clean look, then it is not necessarily clean. They do not believe in the popular “three-second rule” in the US: if food has fallen to the floor, then you need to wash it, not throw it away. Do not use other people's things, do not wear unwashed other people's clothes, especially cosmetics or personal items. But the first thing they do when they come home is to wash their hands. They wear masks or stay at home if they feel symptoms of the disease.

Of course, East Asians do not go home in street shoes, as most Americans do. And to make the floor easier to clean, they do not have carpets that accumulate dirt.

It is clear that the spread of the virus is influenced by a number of other factors, in particular the level of development of the medical system, the presence of the so-called super-distributors (people who are able to infect a large number of people around).

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However, if a pandemic can be affected in any way by the actions of each individual (staying home with a cough, washing their hands after using the trolley in a supermarket, refusing to shake dozens of hands at a party), then restraint and prudence, as well as determination, I think are really worth it learn from the countries of Asia. But it is definitely better for Colombians to take dance lessons - of course, when quarantine ends.

Original published in Maria Prus blog on Voice of America.
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As reported by ForumDaily:

• A new virus was discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. In 2020, it covered all continents except Antarctica. On March 11, US President Donald Trump imposed a ban on entering the United States from EU countries. The ban came into force on Friday, March 13, and will last at least 30 days. In particular, it will concern people who have visited the Schengen area over the past 14 days.
• March 13 Trump due to coronavirus introduced a nationwide emergency regime in the US.
• On March 11, WHO recognized the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, which covered more than 110 countries. Symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19 Disease Available here.
• Virologist's tips on how to protect yourself from infection - here to register:.
• Taking advantage of the panic in the society because of the epidemic, fraudsters came up with several schemes to deceive victims of personal data and money. The most common ones can be found here.
• Having succumbed to panic due to a state of emergency, Americans are massively buying toilet paperbut they cannot explain why they need it during the epidemic.
• Trump has signed into law on paid leave due to coronavirus. Who can count on paid leave, read here.
• Read all news about coronavirus in our special project.

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