NY Times (2/1/22): U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries

An excerpt:

Some of the reasons for America’s difficulties are well known. Despite having one of the world’s most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the country has failed to vaccinate as many people as other large, wealthy nations. Crucially, vaccination rates in older people also lag behind certain European nations.

The United States has fallen even further behind in administering booster shots, leaving large numbers of vulnerable people with fading protection as Omicron sweeps across the country...

Washington Post (2/1/22): Researchers are asking why some countries were better prepared for covid. One surprising answer: Trust.

An excerpt:

A new study [Lancet] of pandemic preparedness across 177 countries and territories appears to have found a key element in Vietnam’s success: trust...

These factors were key for pre-coronavirus rankings such as the Global Health Security Index, which in 2019 listed the United States and Britain as most prepared for a catastrophic biological event, like a pandemic — and Vietnam 74th out of 117 countries.

Instead, better outcomes appear to have gone hand in hand with high levels of trust in government and other citizens. Perception of government corruption was correlated with worse outcomes. Researchers measured trust with polling data from the World Values Survey and Gallup...

The pandemic has “eroded trust in the government,” Bang Petersen said. “It actually seems as if the pandemic has worsened the problem that this study identified.”