People Who Adhere To Cultural Norms
What are some places where people tend to voluntarily adhere to cultural norms?
1. Japan
2. Nordic countries
3. Utah, Vermont
What are some places where COVID death rates were puzzlingly low:
1. Japan
2. Nordic countries
3. Utah, Vermont
By “puzzlingly low”, I mean low relatively to the government policy response and age distribution. (Yes, Utah’s rate was low even adjusted for its young average age). China’s death rate was even lower, but is not a puzzle given their draconian zero COVID policy. Australian and New Zealand also had zero COVID policies (before the vaccine), enforced by limits on travel. I’m interested in places where there’s no obvious regulatory explanation.
I recently took a train from Dresden to Prague. In Germany, a very high percentage of people on the subways and trams wore masks. In Prague, almost no one wears a mask. Interestingly, the cumulative death rate from COVID in Germany is less than half as high as in Czechia (which has a younger population than Germany.) That’s obviously not all due to masks, but does largely reflect differences in willingness to voluntarily adhere to various cultural norms on things like masks, social distancing vaccination, etc. Another comparison is Austria (where people wear masks on the subway) and Hungary (where they do not.) Hungary’s COVID fatality rate is more than twice as high as Austria’s
BTW, I am not arguing that wearing a mask makes much sense today—I rarely wear them—just that it once did make sense.
PS. Sweden’s death rate was low by global standards, but high by Nordic standards. That fits with the fact that Sweden’s government did not encourage as much social distancing as its neighbors.
PPS. There’s yet another scientific study suggesting that masks are highly effective, although these studies are not very precise.
PPPS. On a recent train trip my wife wore a mask, while I did not. I was the one that got sick a day later. (Just a cold, not COVID.)
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