Vietnam took drastic early action to fight the coronavirus — and has reported zero deaths

Contact tracing has helped identify hundreds potential cases of Covid-19 in Teton County, Wyoming. Conducted by the county's health department, the process works much like it does for other communicable diseases, such as measles. According to the data collected from the efforts, 60% of those who have been contacted as being in contact with the coronavirus have tested positive for the virus themselves.

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.

Taiwan was expected to be inundated with COVID-19 cases, but that never happened at least in part due to the swift and aggressive actions enacted by the government. Integral to the approach was enhanced transparency from the government, which included text messages to those who were quarantined, as well as using lessons learned from the SARS outbreak.

Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan all implemented similar comprehensive public health emergency plans that successfully reduced the spread of coronavirus in each region. Although each country used tactics such as travel restrictions, widespread testing, transparent communication, and quarantine protocols, Taiwan and South Korea are emerging as models for other countries due to the structure of democracy.

Taiwan was among the first countries to respond to COVID-19 with decisive actions that contained the virus’ impact on the population. Its 2003 experience with the SARS virus provided an established infrastructure to focus on eliminating the virus rather than its mitigating spread. In-bound travel was quickly regulated, a centralized office coordinated responses across sectors, and clear communication campaigns limited disinformation. Officials temporarily authorized “intrusive data collection measures” to track, trace, and isolate infections and masks were required and made widely available.

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."

Rwanda, a country with the same population of Ohio, has emerged as an example of how to slow the spread of coronavirus, with only 1,500 cases reported so far. Besides initiating a lockdown, implementing free testing, and recruiting community health care workers, police, and college students to be contact tracers, officials also used "the same structure, same people, same infrastructure and laboratory diagnostics" that had been working to contain the spread of HIV.

While many states across the United States are still working to contain the coronavirus, Hawaii has managed to curb cases in part because of the state's geography, but moreso due to local government officials prioritizing guidance from state health specialists. Following the lead of several other countries, Hawaii's health officials started contact tracing and quarantine protocols during "critical early weeks, when cases were manageable." While there has been disagreement about which specific measures to prioritize over others, the proactive action as a whole has been successful.

The local government in Kerala implemented swift and aggressive measures to contain the coronavirus, within three days of learning that China was experiencing an outbreak. The success of the state is largely due to the way the government functions under the "Kerala model," which is a culmination of "decades of progressive politics and an egalitarian development strategy." Although the curve has been flattened, there are still significant socio-economic ramifications that are posing a challenge to recovery.

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.