As we near the two-year benchmark since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, health experts are studying why coronavirus has hit some parts of the world harder than others.
The obvious answer may seem to be economic inequality, populism or universal health coverage, but as Thomas Bollyky, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert," the answer actually lies in trust.
"The thing that has an effect, and a large one, is trust. Trust in the government and trust in each other seem to be the biggest driver in the number of infections countries have had," Bollyky said.
If community engagement had been stronger throughout the world, Bollyky believes the pandemic could have been mitigated.
"When confronted by a novel contagious virus, the only way for governments to protect their citizens is by convincing them to protect themselves," he said. "That depends on the trust that we have between our government and with one another to work together on this."
Vietnam's success in handling COVID-19 exemplifies Bollyky's belief in the importance of government to citizen trust.
"Vietnam is remarkable because it's a country that, on paper, you would not expect to do well in the pandemic. It's not a wealthy nation, on all the measures we had on pandemic preparedness it ranked low," he said.
Despite those factors, throughout the pandemic, Vietnam has managed to keep infections low and fatalities minimal. "One thing that Vietnam has, is higher trust among the highest trusts in the world. They have a tradition of higher trust in the government and it really has paid off for them in the pandemic," Bollyky explained.
Mobilizing the public to do what they can to save themselves is something the United States can learn from in the future, he said.
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