Native Americans in Minnesota Keep COVID-19 at Bay

Despite being a small and historically underresourced nation, Bhutan has managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus and avoid all but one death from the virus during the entire duration of the pandemic thus far. Government officials acted swiftly when news of the novel coronavirus became public and implemented immediate testing, contact tracing, and quarantine measures that were well-received by citizens. According to a local journalist, "I don’t think any other country can say that leaders and ordinary people enjoy such mutual trust. This is the main reason for Bhutan’s success.”

A combination of luck, learning, local responses, and listening has kept Germany's coronavirus cases manageable, even as the pandemic continues to impact much of the world. In particular, the ability to enact decentralized approaches and locally scale-up testing in conjunction with a high rate of trust in public health departments proved to be especially impactful.

Several rural counties in Oregon and Idaho have managed to slow the spread of the coronavirus through early intervention strategies and community compliance. Although the low population and rural nature of the regions also played a role in the success of the counties, the areas still adopted tactics such as mask-wearing and social media campaigns and implemented collaborative efforts between elected and emergency officials. Because of these efforts, several of the counties have been removed from Covid-19 watch lists.

Italy, once a major hotspot for Covid-19 cases, has seen a significant decrease in the spread of the coronavirus after implementing strict government regulations including mandatory travel restrictions and isolation protocols. The success of the measures has been evident as the country begins to reopen – lifting restrictions in two-week increments to account for the "virus’s incubation period" – with no sign of the virus still spreading and hospitals remaining largely empty of critical cases.

Due to its proximity to China, experts forcasted that Taiwan would experience a high number of coronavirus cases, but aggressive intervention strategies have kept the overall caseload much lower than expected. New regulations, especially focused on people traveling through the airport – such as enrolling travelers in a national coronavirus database, taking their temperature in the airport, and mandating a two-week quarantine – granted the government the capability of being able to track the spread of potential incoming cases.

Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea have each seen success through their efforts to contain the coronavirus. Using methods such as aggressive isolation methods that include penalties, contact tracing and rapid intervention strategies that were in place from previously dealing with other communicable diseases, the lessons these countries have learned could provide information for countries still struggling to slow the spread.

China and South Korea were the first two countries to emerge as possible models for how to contain coronavirus. While critics have called China's tactics Draconian, they are praising South Korea for implementing "swift action, widespread testing, and contact tracing," and including their citizens in their approach.

Strict and early knockdowns and consistent public health messaging have helped Australia effectively eliminate Covid-19. Now, the country and its residents have largely returned to business as usual, despite many citizens still waiting to receive the Covid vaccine.

When Covid-19 cases began to be reported in Washington state, the state government – at the suggestion of local health officials – enacted some of the most stringent restrictions in the nation. Although these actions did not come without trade-offs, in Seattle, the strategy has resulted in "the lowest death rate of the 20 largest metropolitan regions in the country."

Having learned from a failed response to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), the South Korea government and health officials enacted a proactive and effective strategy to contain the spread of 'Covid-19. Relying on better information control as well as technological advancements that aided contact tracing and quarantine protocols, the country has seen only seen 2.67 deaths per 100,000 people thus far.