Questions tagged [covid-19]
Questions about political actions related to the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in 2019, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. For general public health policy questions, use [public-health]. For questions requiring medical answers, please ask on https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com
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Why do Western countries seem to be less efficient than Asian countries in fighting against COVID-19?
So far it appears that Western countries especially in Europe (e.g. Italy, Spain, UK, France, Germany) struggle to curb the spread of COVID-19. This is in contrast to most Asian countries (China, ...
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Is there an explanation for why ~20% of Americans think the US's response to COVID-19 has been better than South Korea's?
In this article, it's claimed that 20% of the US thinks the US is handling the COVID-19 outbreak better than South Korea, 21% think it's about the same, 26% think it's worse, and 32% aren't sure. This ...
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Why is there so much reluctance to make the COVID vaccine mandatory for adults?
For all the talk on how its important for everyone to get vaccinated, not a single country has so far made the COVID vaccine mandatory for adults. Some states are making it mandatory for college ...
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How much do the Italian and Chinese COVID-19 lock-down measures resemble each other?
I have the impression that Italy has adopted some if not all the "Chinese playbook" on COVID-19, including a large scale lock-down. That may well be justified given that the number of new cases ...
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Why are countries still introducing COVID-19 quarantines for travelers from affected regions, even though it's been proven they don't work?
Various governments seem to be playing whack-a-mole with travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines in the recent COVID-19 epidemic. First Chinese residents were banned from numerous countries. ...
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Why has Russia declined OPEC's request to cut oil production?
On Friday, Russia declined to participate in a plan devised by the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil production levels, in order to keep oil prices steady ...
CDJB♦
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Does the US President have the power to quarantine a state or other locality?
On Saturday, March 28th, President Trump told reporters that he was "considering imposing a quarantine on New York state". He later tweeted that he was giving consideration to a quarantine of "hot ...
CDJB♦
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Why was the World Health Organization against travel restrictions following the COVID-19 outbreak?
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization initially opposed countries instituting travel or trade restrictions. Example tweet, NPR article mentioning WHO's advice.
Why ...
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What are the details of the Federal Reserve's $1.5 trillion injection?
According to the Wall Street Journal, in order to attempt to slow the economic contraction caused by the Covid-19 virus, the Federal Reserve has promised to inject $1.5 trillion into the economy, by
...
CDJB♦
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Is it possible for a country to ask China for compensation over damage done by SARS-CoV-2 epidemic that most likely started in China?
A part of this answer got me wondering if another state can request compensations over the huge economical cost of SARS-CoV-2 epidemics:
(..) the region (HK, Singapore, SK?, China) was hit much ...
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What are the benefits of the proposed Euro/Corona bonds over conventional government bonds?
This article describes the efforts of several European Union countries to agree to issue "corona bonds" or "Eurobonds", which are a joint EU mechanism to issue joint debt shared between different ...
CDJB♦
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Have any polls been conducted measuring support for the WHO?
In the past few weeks, we have seen some countries criticize the World Health Organization, particularly from Japan, and more recently the US President's withdrawal of WHO funding subject to a review.
...
CDJB♦
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Why is Trump dubbing COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" considered offensive, while many past epidemics have had similar naming schemes?
To preface this, I'm not a supporter of Trump, but I disagree with the way some major media outlets have criticized him over his nickname for COVID-19, the "Chinese virus". In addition, it is not ...
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Why is COVID-19 prompting such wide scale action versus other infectious diseases?
The COVID-19 outbreak has been dominating the news recently, with loads of headlines and efforts being made to stop it from spreading.
Why this disease? It's not one of the most lethal ones, or one ...
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Why is the lab leak theory of Covid discussed so prominently?
I don't really understand what is the point fighting over about the lab leak theory. Certainly other virology labs should care, they want to be sure they don't make the same mistake. And certainly ...
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, why is it claimed that the US President is making a trade-off of human lives for the economy?
This question posted recently makes a lot of assumptions, including
the US President is currently making a trade-off of human lives for the economy
or
Trump's pro-economy death-permissive ...
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Have any countries that are currently in lockdown published a detailed long-term exit plan?
Currently almost every country around the world is in a state of lockdown. However all of them seem to be in a state of 'indefinite' lockdown, with no long-term plan published anywhere. Has any ...
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What political and social factors underlie Sweden's controversial response to COVID-19?
Sweden has adopted a far less radical set of policies in reaction to COVID-19 than most other European states. Many other European states are in "lock-down", with severe restrictions on ...
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What happened to the vaccine panels that were planned by Democratic leaders back in 2020?
Governor Inslee of Washington promised to create a panel of experts to review the safety of vaccines back in October 2020:
Washington will be joining other western states to take steps to
review the ...
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When did the WHO decide there was evidence of human-to-human transmission of Covid-19?
A January 14 WHO tweet that has been widely re-broadcast months later by the right-wing US press (e.g. NYPost, WashExam but not exclusively by them, e.g. Bloomberg opinion piece, Politico o.p.) said ...
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What's with the threatened Trump veto due to insufficient individual covid relief?
According to Reuters:
Trump said he wants Congress to increase the amount in the stimulus checks to $2,000 for individuals or $4,000 for couples, instead of the “ridiculously low” $600 for ...
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Has the effect of crises on leaders' approval ratings been researched?
In the last few weeks, the leaders of practically every country I've looked at have seen their approval ratings improve significantly. An obvious conclusion to draw is that this is due to the COVID-19 ...
CDJB♦
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Why is Italy rejecting 39 billion euros of EU coronavirus aid?
According to tagesschau.de (original article in German, translation here), in response to the European Union's coronavirus aid package, Italy's government has made it clear that "[they] don't want ...
CDJB♦
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Could the CCP have disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic much earlier as the U.S. claims? [closed]
Could the CCP have disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic much earlier as the U.S. claims? What are the standards in terms of pandemic reporting and did the Chinese Communist Party meet those standards? What ...
user28660
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Why are masks a political topic in the US?
Why has coronavirus become such a political topic?
What I mean by this - why are things such as mask wearing so political? Shouldn't we know whether or not wearing masks work? Why does the answer to ...
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What are the objections to Mitch McConnell's COVID-19 Bill?
In the US Senate on Sunday, March 22nd, Democrats blocked the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in a 47-47 vote that was split along party lines. McConnell indicated that he ...
CDJB♦
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What reasons are offered by those who both endorsed social distancing and then endorsed the BLM mass protests?
I hope this doesn't get labeled as a bad faith question. I'm genuinely curious what the rationale is for supporting the mass gatherings and protesting following the death of George Floyd, despite ...
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Why are Democrats blocking COVID-19 pandemic relief bills with the objection that it's not enough instead of passing it and then passing another?
I read an article that said that the most recent COVID-19 relief bill was not passed because Democrats didn't think it was enough. The article is here: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/11/gops-coronavirus-...
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What are the implications of Hungary's emergency coronavirus bill?
Today, Hungary's parliament voted by 137 to 53 to enact the new COVID-19 bill, which apparently grants Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sweeping powers, in order to allow Hungary to deal with the crisis. ...
CDJB♦
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What was the US government's official plan for dealing with future pandemics prior to 2020?
Pandemics are not a new phenomenon and people like Bill Gates have been talking about preparing for the next one for many years now. Did the US government have an official plan in place for what they'...
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How much of the US media referred to the COVID-19 as the "Wuhan Virus" until it received an official designation from the WHO?
It has been claimed in a fairly upvoted answer here (which is why this not a notable-enough claim for Skeptics SE) that
For a fun exercise, put a news organization into google's search along with "...
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Why doesn't India mass-produce COVID-19 vaccines?
I read (mirror):
[January 5, 2021] India has one of the largest vaccine manufacturing capacities in the world (including the largest vaccine producer - Serum Institute of India) and has secured ...
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How do leaders choose between lives and money?
Amid the current pandemic many governments imposed heavy social restrictions in an attempt to flatten the curve and thereby save lives, and those restrictions take their toll on the economies. For ...
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What are the objections to Pelosi's COVID-19 Bill?
Subsequent to the Democrats blocking the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in the US Senate on Sunday, March 22nd, in a 47-47 vote that was split along party lines, Nancy ...
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How has the handling of the coronavirus outbreak (CoViD-19) affected Donald Trump's approval ratings?
From the outside it appears that the coronavirus (CoViD-19) outbreak has caught the USA off guard and that it's been handled quite poorly to date. So my assumption is that this would have a negative ...
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What has the reaction from the EU been to Trump suspending travel from the whole 26-country Schengen zone?
Breaking news
US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
In a televised address, he said travel from 26 ...
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What kind of interference was feared by Democratic leaders when creating the "vaccine panels"?
Governor Inslee of Washington promised to create a panel of experts to review the safety of vaccines back in October 2020. Zach Lipton states in a comment that the following concerns were up in the ...
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Has there been a random survey of a population for COVID-19?
Has the World Health Organisation (WHO) or any government anywhere conducted random tests for COVID-19?
It is announced today that in Britain they are going to step up the testing from 1,500 people ...
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Are there any polls explicitly measuring "quarantine fatigue" in Western countries?
There are numerous articles talking about how people are tired of staying in lockdown:
As Greece enters its third week since restrictive measures were first
imposed to combat the spread of ...
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Are Democrat-led states handling COVID-19 better than Republican-led states?
If Democrats are more pro-science than Republicans, and if science helps control COVID-19, then it sounds logical that US states with a Democratic governor will handle COVID-19 better than those with ...
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How did the US administration usually refer to COVID-19 before the Chinese foreign ministry started claiming the virus is of US origin?
It's been recently reported that Trump's administration (Trump himself, but also Pompeo) has been referring to COVID-19 as "China virus" or "Wuhan coronavirus" etc., emphasizing the Chinese origin of ...
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Why have some governments banned outbound international flights in response to COVID-19?
Why have some governments banned outbound international flights in response to COVID-19?
For example, the Philippines initially announced (but later reversed) a ban on outbound flights:
Airports in ...
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How has the apportionment of blame for COVID-19 by party changed over time in the US?
In a (recent) Morning Consult poll we find this question on whom Americans blame the most for the spread of Covid-19 in the US:
As you can see, at least now, Democrats chiefly blame president Trump, ...
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What survey data exists about how Americans are weighing trade-offs in COVID-19 responses?
CNBC reported that:
[Dan] Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, said Monday on Fox News, “As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America ...
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Why was the Emergencies Act invoked in Canada with regard to the "Freedom Convoy"?
The Emergencies Act was invoked in response to the "freedom convoy" in Canada. I don't understand what makes this convoy so important to put the country in this situation. Why it is invoked?
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What powers, if any, does the US federal government have to introduce coronavirus restrictions?
Does the US federal government have the power to introduce any restrictions relating to the coronavirus, be it anything from a mask mandate to a full lockdown? Or does the Tenth Amendment mean that ...
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Boris Johnson Partygate Report: What are the possible consequences for Johnson?
As I type this, the debate is ongoing over Boris Johnson, deciding whether or not to accept the Partygate report's findings.
The report suggests a 90-day suspension, possibly triggering a by-election, ...
anon
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Has the WHO said anything about travel restrictions since the end of February?
The WHO was against travel restrictions as they detailed in a press release at the end of February. But in the month past (March) practically every country on earth has instituted travel restrictions, ...
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What in "Fauci's emails" do Republicans consider to be damning?
Fauci emails
A lot of right-wing people I know seem so vindicated in their conspiracy theories but never explicitly state which ones.
I've read Why is the lab leak theory such a big deal? and I doubt ...
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Can the Chinese or S Korean COVID approaches be implemented in the US (or Europe)?
The "Daily" NY Times podcast for 3/12/20 described two effective management schemes for handling the epidemic. Briefly:
Chinese: Check everyone's temperature frequently on a massive scale. Track ...
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