Page - 7 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

7Introduction be the primary intervention, are often challenging in LMICs, if not impossible, due to poverty and population density. The Policy Response to COVID-19 There have been very different political responses to COVID-19 across countries. At one end of the spectrum are countries that have imple- mented very restrictive measures. China set a global precedent, insti- tuting what was then the largest quarantine in world history of the Wuhan region’s sixty million people. This has since been eclipsed as other countries have locked down to a greater or lesser degree. Neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan, perhaps enlightened by their earlier experience of SARS and H1N1, responded quickly to the Wuhan outbreak by shutting down borders and implementing aggressive testing and contact tracing, relying heavily on digital surveillance. They seem to have largely contained the virus; however, it is hard to predict what will happen as physical distancing restrictions are lifted. At the other end of the spectrum, among Western countries, Sweden stands out for its embrace of a less restrictive approach that some media have dubbed “anti-lockdown.” Sweden’s chief epide- miologist pursued a strategy of mitigation: allow the virus to spread slowly without overwhelming the health system, without recourse to harsh social isolation restrictions, and attempt to shield the most vul- nerable. Earlier in the pandemic, countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. also toyed with policies aimed at establishing “herd immunity”; namely that they would permit the virus to spread so that at a certain point enough people in the population would acquire immunity that the disease would significantly dissipate. However, both countries implemented lockdowns of varying degrees after enormous expert and popular outcry. Canada’s path through COVID-19 is perhaps best described as a middle ground. This approach has seen neither the federal nor provincial governments impose strict lockdowns (i.e., unlike in New Zealand, Canadian governments have not mandated that people stay in their homes, although they have encouraged it). Provinces have, however, imposed various restrictions on large and small gatherings, closed schools, universities, and nonessential businesses, locked down jails and long-term care institutions, and issued physical distancing guidelines. Both federal and provincial