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Comment by makomk | Hacker News Reader

This seems to be a global feeling. People in most countries seem to think that theirs is constantly behind the curve, that they aren't locking down fast enough and their testing is so grossly inadequate compared to the rest of the world that their government is practically trying to kill them.

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I'm in Canada. We were a bit late to the punch, but I think by and large my government layers (municipal, regional, provincial, and federal) have taken the right actions at the right times given the information available. And they're clearly working in conjunction with experts, so there's that.

I definitely have policy beefs with both my premier and PM. I didn't vote for either of them and probably won't the next time either, but I can still be pleased at the degree to which they've stepped up. The contrast with US federal government is especially stark.

Canada missed the boat by not being serious about checking travellers returning to Canada. If the fake followup questionaire that was routinely not asked was asked and had detailed questions, if an assessment of people returning was done, if airports were shutdown earlier, if returning people didn't have to wait for hours in line in close contact with thousands of others returning.. The airports are the weak links.

Now they go on tv and yell at people for not doing enough. When two weeks before they downplayed, mocked those who would dare wear masks. The majority of the initial outbreak was spent telling people they were racist for not shopping in Chinatown.

I'm in pretty much exactly the same boat as you. Not a fan of the PM or Premier of my province, but am not unhappy with how things are being handled.

While I have a lot of issues with the messaging (in that it could be blunter and clearer [1]), it appears to be an issue in all Western countries, so I guess I give them a pass for that.

I also have some issues with the CERB (I would have personally preferred a simple universal benefit over something you need explainers for [2][3])

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/fmlg1y/communic...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/fpz6g6/update_2_ce...

[3] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lOJn7XS6ETIkbLRodYk681M_2dx...

This is just not true. Norway quaranteed people coming from infected areas, and brought up understandable restrictions by a unified front across ministries, sparrowheaded by the Prime Minister. Curve of infected and deaths seem almost linear, and the Gov is considering opening up low-hanging restrictions after Easter.

The clue was right responses at right time, correct nation-wide communication, coordination and leadership. With earlier response, maybe this could've been stopped at borders. But effectiveness is doubtful, since most countries have dismantled pandemic and crisis capabilities.

The contrast between Norway and Sweden is particularly stark.

No. Where I'm from, only specific kinds of stores (groceries, pharmacies, gas stations and similar) remain open, there's a police curfew from 8pm to 5am (with ~250 euro fine), bars, cafes, hairdressers etc are completely shut down, restaurants can only do delivery, covering your face is obligatory when in public, public transport is completely shut down.

Admittedly, it is a small country (~4 million people) but we've been doing this since we had ~50 cases. If anything, people were arguing that we took drastic measures a bit too soon, but we're able to pin point individual clusters thanks to a quick response.

On a side note, one company anniversary party is responsible for about 17.5% of confirmed cases so far, so please stay the fuck home.

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