Unprecedented Isolation: El País

Covid-19 confounds humans with its exponential growth and cases doubling in increasingly shorter periods of time, resulting in steep curve. The United States responded swiftly on the economic front, approving more than $2 trillion in stimulus spending. Still, the largest economic stimulus package in history won’t prevent economic recession, job losses, bankruptcies and evictions. All countries can expect economic contraction with low consumer demand. “This impact will be even worse in countries with large populations, precarious economies, and weak healthcare systems, which means that nations such as India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Brazil, South Africa, Bangladesh and Mexico can expect to be particularly hard hit,” explains Moisés Naím for El País. International coordination on social distancing and stay-at-home orders would slow the virus and minimize the impacts. “In other words, the world must strive to act locally at the smallest possible scale and multilaterally at the most global level possible.” He concludes that isolation saves live at the individual level, but coordination among countries reduces overall costs. – YaleGlobal