The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious challenge for societies around the world. In response to it not only individuals are changing their behavior, but also governments are taking various policy actions. In order to compare responses in different countries we have gathered information from a number of states.
Slovakia is not Wuhan. Slovakia is not even Bratislava alone. The optimal solution for the capital is different from the one for Pribylina (a small village in Slovakia). Closing a country like ours, where half of the population lives in the countryside, is a comfortable waiver of responsibility by those in charge.
To stop the coronavirus, most countries ceased almost all economic and social activities. As a first response to prevent an exponential growth of cases, this was probably justified. However, we will not be able to bear the costs of such a complete shutdown for a very long time.
If the ongoing lockdown – unprecedented on this scale in the modern history – is to continue for another three months or longer, we will bear witness to an economic and humanitarian catastrophe. What might follow is a massive and unpredictable social rebellion.
The restructuring of the state in a latently authoritarian direction is being pushed even further. The government’s worrying trend is particularly evident in the way it is trying to instrumentalize the COVID-19 crisis for the upcoming presidential elections on May 10.
