7 ms·

South Korea is a huge outlier.

by pacala 6y ago

NonEUCitizen 6y ago
Not really. If you look at the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan), and going by COVID-19 deaths per capita (rather than infection rates), South Korea is actually the worst performer. Singapore is 2.5X better than South Korea. Hong Kong is 3+X better than Singapore. And Taiwan is 2X better than Hong Kong. And it's got nothing to do with "but the West is free and democratic." Taiwan and South Korea are super-free democratic countries. Stop letting western governments off the hook for their incompetence.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Singapore and Hong Kong have both had to go into lockdowns. Their death toll is lower because they reacted earlier, and everyone agrees the West should have reacted earlier, but they don't reveal fundamental flaws in western strategies if they have to do the same kinds of things. Taiwan reacted incredibly early - their response started on 31 December, reportedly because some CDC official was trawling a web forum and happened to come across a screenshot of a Wuhan doctor's group chat. They've certainly done a lot of other things right, but I think it's fair to say that's a multiple week head start beyond what anyone else could reasonably have gotten. Heck, it was 2 weeks before the WHO famously declared there was no person-to-person transmission.
  - himinlomax 6y ago
    > Taiwan reacted incredibly early Pretty interesting to guess why: - they're Chinese, so they understand what's going on in China - they in fact understand it better than mainlanders since they are not bound by the censorship therein - they get first hand reports since iirc a million Taiwanese are in mainland China at any given time - they are on constant alert against Pekin aggression
- atoav 6y ago
  Taiwans reaction was great because they still very much had the last SARS outbreaks in mind, and as a state that has been denied WHO membership they have not many options other than making dead sure this is handled propperly as a pandemic in Taiwan could weaken it enough for mainland china to consider attacking them.

South Korea is a huge outlier.

by pacala 6y ago

South Korea is a huge outlier.

Not really. If you look at the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan), and going by COVID-19 deaths per capita (rather than infection rates), South Korea is actually the worst performer. Singapore is 2.5X better than South Korea. Hong Kong is 3+X better than Singapore. And Taiwan is 2X better than Hong Kong. And it's got nothing to do with "but the West is free and democratic." Taiwan and South Korea are super-free democratic countries. Stop letting western governments off the hook for their incompetence.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
Singapore and Hong Kong have both had to go into lockdowns. Their death toll is lower because they reacted earlier, and everyone agrees the West should have reacted earlier, but they don't reveal fundamental flaws in western strategies if they have to do the same kinds of things. Taiwan reacted incredibly early - their response started on 31 December, reportedly because some CDC official was trawling a web forum and happened to come across a screenshot of a Wuhan doctor's group chat. They've certainly done a lot of other things right, but I think it's fair to say that's a multiple week head start beyond what anyone else could reasonably have gotten. Heck, it was 2 weeks before the WHO famously declared there was no person-to-person transmission.
- himinlomax 6y ago
  > Taiwan reacted incredibly early Pretty interesting to guess why: - they're Chinese, so they understand what's going on in China - they in fact understand it better than mainlanders since they are not bound by the censorship therein - they get first hand reports since iirc a million Taiwanese are in mainland China at any given time - they are on constant alert against Pekin aggression
atoav 6y ago
Taiwans reaction was great because they still very much had the last SARS outbreaks in mind, and as a state that has been denied WHO membership they have not many options other than making dead sure this is handled propperly as a pandemic in Taiwan could weaken it enough for mainland china to consider attacking them.