Olivia REMES
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, people’s anxiety levels shot up. Daily reports were coming in about the number of new deaths, there was global chaos and people had to be persuaded to stay inside. And even though this was difficult, we somehow managed to pull through. We slowly became used to our new lives in lockdown, and our anxiety began to subside.
East Asia fares significantly better in terms of the impact of COVID-19 than the West. Although the virus is believed to have originated in East Asia, as of May 22, 2020 no East Asian nation was among the first ten countries in number of total cases of COVID-19. No matter what type of rule – democratic or autocratic – the numbers of total cases and deaths per 1 million of population in East Asian countries are significantly lower than in the West despite huge population density.
Hugh IGLARSH
The point I am trying to make here is a simple and obvious one, or would be in a society not burdened with a two-pronged ideology of extreme militarism and extreme individualism. It is this: In feeding the military-industrial complex so richly at this time, we are starving ourselves of many vital things and weakening ourselves as a society, perhaps to the point of suicide. We are in effect sacrificing our future on the altar of American imperialism, which like some dark god of the past, is ever hungry and can be assuaged only by human life.
A Military Spouse’s Perspective on Fighting This Pandemic
Andrea MAZZARINO
In recognition for the Cuban doctors’ efforts to aid nations across the world to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, there have been recommendations for the Henry Reeves Medical Brigade to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The brigade was founded by the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro after the U.S. rejected Cuba’s offer of humanitarian aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Across the globe, as scientists and doctors are working a breakneck speed to develop safe vaccines and therapies for the Covid-19 virus, modern-day magicians and voodoo purveyors are pushing all forms of quackery to swindle and sway an unsuspecting public. The most notorious wizard of woo is Donald Trump, who, on February 28, said of Covid-19, “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
Andrew SALMON
It is abundantly clear that East Asia has managed the Covid-19 crisis far better than the West. So what is behind this glaring differential?
The first part of this two-part series made statistical East-West comparisons, then dived into culture and communalism, attitudes toward authority, rights to privacy, and differentials in recent historical and epidemic experience.
Academia does not really have a reputation for being riddled with violence and sudden unexplained deaths. Yet at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, two young pioneering researchers from the same obscure field of study met with mysterious ends.
Outside of academic circles, Dr. James Taylor and Dr. Bing Liu were relative unknowns. Inside of the scientific community, however, the two had achieved something like rock-star status. And now, within a period of 30 days, both young men are dead at a time when their talents are needed most.
James Taylor, 1979-2020
East Asia has handled and contained the pandemic far better than the West on nearly all metrics
Andrew SALMON
Perhaps the most startling trend visible in the global Covid-19 pandemic is the vast differential separating East Asia from the West when it comes to the disease’s impact.
The chasm is visible – indeed, is impossible not to notice – when examining infection and death rates in either gross or percentage terms.
