Interventions

This page collects observations, interpretations, and consequences for action about the Interventions for SARS-CoV2 in general. Please observe the structure of the page, when you add your content. Please use references where possible. Remember to find the relevant page. For example, if your observation is about transmission routes, please use that page, instead of posting your content here.

What does Global health say?

WHO

• * "To suppress and control the epidemics, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace. If they don't, transmission chains can continue at a low level, then re-surge once physical distancing measures are lifted. WHO continues to recommend that isolating, testing and treating EVERY suspected case and tracing every contact, must be the backbone of the response in every country. This is the best hope of preventing widespread community transmission."
  • “You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is,”
  • “Find, isolate, test and treat every case to break the chains of Covid transmission. Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease.”
  • "The real moral dilemma is [..] when a health worker faces a COVID19 patient and they do not have the PPE to protect them. Would you want to be that health worker?"
  • "We cannot care about millions, when we do not care about an individual"
  • "No white flag, no surrender. We must fight. Every life counts"
  • "You need to make the first move, not react to each move the virus makes. Or you will not control this"
  • "if you have to 'be right' before you make a move, you will lose [control over the outbreak]"
  • "The problem with so many countries now is: so many people are afraid to make a mistake."

ECDC

• "Measures taken at this stage should ultimately aim at protecting the most vulnerable population groups from severe illness and fatal outcome by reducing transmission."

What do we see in the European Member States?

Instructions

Please use the bullet points below, to share your observations of policy, preferably with reference to formal publication and date. I will transpose those to the table (WikiTables are a headache, and difficult to edit, so I want to make it as easy as possible for everyone). Please use the information fields from the table, as much as possible, so that data can be transposed easily. Since this is a Wiki, each change is logged, and you can always browse through the page history to see the snapshot in time.

Bullet point notes

• AU: Social distancing measures: people are advised only to entertain strict necessary personal contacts and replace all others by phone, digital or defer altogether. Allowed are: professional contacts; elementary daily shopping; care for those in need; avoid indoor activities outside the home. Since 16 March, for 1 week. The area of Tirol has quarantined certain municipalities. The Skying season has been ended by 15 March. Large events are forbidden. All shops that do not supply basic necessities are closed. Restaurants and bars are closed. Universities, schools and kindergartens are closed.
• BE: Belgium in LockDown as of 17 March.
• BU: Bulgaria’s President and Prime Minister, Rumen Radev and Boyko Borissov met on Sunday (15 March) and announced that all doctors and nurses “on the first line” will receive an additional 1000 leva (EUR 500) per month, which is a substantial amount by Bulgarian standards. 12 March: proposed emergency measures. More drastic measures to enforce the decision to close restaurants and shops other than those selling food and medicaments are in preparation (on 13 March). kindergarten, schools and universities will be closed, and that nationals of countries with coronavirus outbreak will not be allowed to enter the country. Violation of quarantine is punishable by jail and a fine up to EUR 25000. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised Bulgarians not to travel abroad. Bulgarians returning from countries with major coronavirus outbreak such as Italy, but also France, are automatically assigned to quarantine.
• CY:
• CZ:
• DE: 17 March: RKI raised the threat level to high. Avoid travel, avoid public transport, try to work from home. Reduce all contacts to a bare minimum. Avoid gatherings or meetings. People over 70 years need pneumococcal vaccination. The 16 German federal autonomous states each can have their own Corona policy. 16 March: Federal agreement on measures: bars, clubs, theatres, musea, cinema, zoos, sporting facilities, playgrounds are closed. Meetings in clubs, leisure, sport, church, mosques, other religious orders are forbidden.
• DK: Public schools and universities, childcare, libraries, and cultural institutions in Denmark will be closed for two weeks, starting on Friday (13 March) while all public sector employees will be sent home with full payment. Only public employees in the health sector, police, and other sensitive functions will continue to work. Meetings with more than 100 participants will be banned from next week and public transport will be limited to those with seat reservations on trains. There will be no standing capacity on buses and trams.
• EE:
• ES: 11 March: schools and universities closed in Madrid. On 14 March, the Spanish government activated a 'state of alarm' and imposes a complete lockdown. Citizens, except emergency personnel, will be able to leave their home only to buy food and drugs.
• FI:
• FR: Containment. Full Lockdown for 2 weeks. Police enforcement of state of emergency
• GR: Mitigation approach. Schools and universities, all department stores, restaurants, theaters, museums, cinemas, beauty salons, are closed, all events are cancelled, advise working at home, stay at home when symptomatic or hen having a close contact with a confirmed case. Also there was a decision yestarday 16/03/2020 churches to be aooly measures (and all celebrations / rituals as we are going towards the Easter period to be cancelled or performed following basic rules such as every person to have at least 2 meters distance from the other). There was also a law issued recently that says that whoever is advised to stay at home (case or contact) and is caught not to be following the instructions will face legal consequences (up to 2 years of prison)! The same applies for professionals that disobey the rules. Already there are some arrests of people that opened their restaurants and other services to serve clients. Doctors have been advised not to examine patients with fever at their private offices as much as they can.

Take away services, super-markets and pharmacies are open as well as other services that have to do with transportation of goods. An online number is available for employees to call and get information on their rights on sick leave and reimbursement. At supermarkets since they were overcrowded the first days of the measures there was the decision to have a queue and based on the size of the space to let a specific number of persons enter. Inside the supermarkets there are sanitizers available and people should keep A distance of more that 2 meters from each other. super-markets will remain open on the weekends to avoid overcrowding. These are in summary some of the measures on 17/03/2020 that Greece has 353 reported cases and 4 deaths. 18/03/2020: 418 cases and 5 deaths. Further social distancing measures: groups of more than 10 people are forbitten (fine of 1000 euros)

• HU:
• IT:
• LT:
• LV:
• MT:
• NL: (see below as per 15 March 2020). 17 March: Prime Minister advised Dutch not to travel abroad.
• PO:
• PT:
• RO:
• SE:
• SK:

Table

Country	AU	BE	BU	CY	CZ	DE	DK	EE	ES	FI	FR	GR	HU	IT	LT	LV	MT	NL	PO	PO	PT	PT	RO	SE	SK
Stay in when flu-like symptoms	Yes	Yes				No	Yes		yes			yes						Yes	Yes		Yes
Stay in when no good reason to go out	Yes	Yes				No	Yes		yes			yes						Yes	Yes		Yes
Requested medical students to do voluntary work						No												Yes	Yes		Yes
Cancelled large scale events	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes		yes			except religious celebrations (Easter): allowed with distance measures						Yes	Yes		Yes
Cancelled all events		Yes				Yes	yes		yes									Yes	Yes		Yes
Closed cafes and restaurants	Yes	Yes				Yes	yes		yes			yes						Yes	Yes		No
Closed schools	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	yes		yes			yes						Yes	Yes		Yes
Closed borders		No				Yes												No	Yes		Yes
Other national policies	Outdoor sporting events are allowed		State of Emergency. All frontline doctors and nurses receive 500 Euro per month additional salary. Violation of quarantine is punishable by jail and fine up to 25000 Euro.			Church, Mosques, other religious gathersings: Forbidden	public transport will be limited to those with seat reservations on trains. There will be no standing capacity on buses and trams					law issued recently: whoever is advised to stay at home (case or contact) and is caught not to be following the instructions will face legal consequences (up to 2 years of prison)						Advise not to travel abroad (17 march)	None		None
Additional measures by local government		Full Lockdown				16 autonomous federal states have specific policies.												None	None		Reduction of the business hours of cafes and bars
Since when	16 March 2020	17 March 2020				16 March	13 March 2020		11 March									1-2 weeks ago	11 March		13 March
Implementation pace		Gradually.				Step by step, as the number of cases increased												Step by step, as the number of cases increased	Step by step, as the number of cases increased		Step by step, as the number of cases increased
For how long will these measures be effective?	Until 23 March	Until 5 April				Closing schools until 20 April; other measures untill further notice	2 weeks											At least until 6 April	At least until 27 March		Until 9 April
Additions to the governmental policies	Tirol province has municipalities in quarantine.	Work from home promoted, not obligatory. Ban on gathering, except families	Advise not to travel abroad			None						Further social distancing measures: groups of more than 10 people are forbidden (fine of 1000 euros)						None	None		None

Variance in National Policies promotes anxiety

Observations

• Discussions emerge on social media between citizens that are confused, anxious or downright upset because of the variance in policy.
  • For example, in the Netherlands, some parties ask for a total lockdown, since Belgium and France do the same. They claim the NL government is not doing enough
• Polls on 17 March show unprecedented high confidence in the Dutch Prime Minister (Mark Rutte): 73%
• People wonder about UK and why the chose a different policy. Anxiety that English approach will jeopardise the meaures in the rest of Europe.

Analysis and interpretation

• As for the situation in the Netherlands: though the confidence in government is high, it may be vulnerable. When a minority keeps shouting that we still do not do enough and backs such statement with 'evidence', referring to countries that go further, this may undermind public confidence, and in general compliance with current policy

Consequences for action

• Short term:
  • Keep explaining why policy for one country is appropriate, and why it is not obligatory to do what your neighbour does, simply because countries differ in health system and other relevant infrastructure. Measures also depend on the phase of the epidemic in each country (not all countries are at the same phase simultaneously)
• Mid term:
  • Create discussion and debate on the need for EU coordination. This means practically: a political decision to give up national autonomy in matters of PHEIC and hand over competence to the EU
• Long Term:
  • Expand ECDC mandate, when political support has reached a majority.