Posting this again:
A Tale of Two Outbreaks: Hong Kong & Italy
Flattening the Curve - Credit CDC
#15,024
Up until two weeks ago Italy had but 3 known COVID-19 cases. Today the ECDC reported they had in excess of 2,500 cases, and they have also reported 80 deaths.
By contrast, Hong Kong - which not only shares a border with Mainland China, but has been dealing with cases since mid-January - has only recently passed the 100 case mark. Across the bay, Macao has even fewer cases (n=10).
If you had asked anybody a month ago which of these two regions would have the most cases in early March, few would have picked Italy. Granted Italy has a much larger population than Hong Kong, but even so, the choices made by both governments have made the biggest difference.
Hong Kong has been very proactive in their response, and closed its schools when they had fewer than 40 cases - have kept them shuttered since late January - and intend to keep them closed until mid April at the earliest.
Italy, on the other hand, only today announced a limited - two week - closure of schools across the country.
Hong Kong closed most public venues - museums, sporting events, movie theatres, bars and most restaurants - in late January (see HK Epidemic Measures: Curbing Travel From Mainland - Closing Public Places - Work From Home Orders) and has kept them closed.
Italy - not so much.
A few temporary cancellations of sporting events in the hardest hit regions, but nothing like the response we’ve seen in Hong Kong. There are signs, at least over the past couple of days, that Italy may be taking stronger actions - like canceling more sporting events, and the aforementioned closing of schools - but they may be both too `measured’ and too late to have much impact.
There appear to be two philosophies at work here.
In Hong Kong, they assumed the disease was already in the community, and they not only continued to work to prevent further entry, they put very tough measures in place to prevent its spread.
Italy, on the other hand, has been mostly reactive. Waiting for community spread to become obvious, and then dealing with each outbreak as if it were a limited event, rather than a systemic problem.
Posting this again:
Kissing on the cheek. Not once, but both cheeks.