how do you safely lift a lockdown?
according to a new
report
, there are five key strategies for success.
researchers from multiple countries looked at the past six months in nine high income countries in europe and the asia pacific region: hong kong, japan, new zealand, singapore, south korea, germany, norway, spain, and the uk. here are the strategies they found that set apart countries that have successfully
lifted their lockdowns
from those who are still struggling to control the virus.
1. innovative surveillance strategy
before a country reopens, it should have a gauge on exactly how many people are infected and have the virus suppressed from spreading. they should be able to report estimates of r (reproductive number that rates a disease’s ability to spread) that are less than 1.
one example the authors note is hong kong’s
real-time r data
which avoids any time lags. japan, germany, and south korea also have reopening strategies that depend on the number of daily new cases and infections. however, some other countries like the u.k. and spain have struggled with implementing test, trace, and isolate systems.
2. community engagement
having a population that’s engaged, empowered, and understands that they need to do their part is key to fending off the virus. this comes down to having a government that provides consistent and credible messaging instead of confusing and inconsistent.
one example of confusing messaging was the lack of consensus we saw here in canada on the use of face masks early on the pandemic. countries that already had widespread mask-wearing as a cultural norm before the pandemic, like hong kong, japan, and south korea, had no issue with face masks. and while other countries like
germany
,
spain
, and
the u.k.
took longer to adopt masks, they have since made them mandatory in indoor settings. singapore also eventually made face masks mandatory outdoors after a confusing start counselling their population against masks, the government has since
provided reusable cloth masks
to the entire population.
4 minute read
