Questions tagged [covid-19]
Questions about political actions related to the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in 2019, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. For general public health policy questions, use [public-health]. For questions requiring medical answers, please ask on https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com
314
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Why didn't China participate in the PISA 2022?
But that rosy spin hides a much grimmer picture. Rankings may have
risen, but test scores did not. The only reason the U.S. rose is
because academic performance in once higher ranking countries, such ...
2
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1
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Where is the text banning live animal trade in China?
The first SARS virus of 2002 is described here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-CoV-1
SARS-CoV-1 passed through “live wild mammals in a retail market” in China.
A source from 2003 published in ...
7
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1
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Boris Johnson Partygate Report: What are the possible consequences for Johnson?
As I type this, the debate is ongoing over Boris Johnson, deciding whether or not to accept the Partygate report's findings.
The report suggests a 90-day suspension, possibly triggering a by-election, ...
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1
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Is there any authority of note in the US that explicitly doesn't subscribe to the conclusion that a Chinese lab leak was the likely cause of Covid-19?
This week
The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday night to require Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify information on the origin of Covid-19. [...]
FBI Director Christopher ...
3
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0
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Are there statistics on how many people support or oppose vaccine mandates in the US by vaccination status?
Is there a fairly recent study showing how many people in the US support or oppose vaccine mandates broken down by vaccination status (how many vaccinated or unvaccinated people support or oppose ...
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4
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Why are countries requiring Chinese travelers to be tested for COVID even though they have millions of cases within their own borders?
Countries such as the UK, US, Italy, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Morocco, Israel, Qatar, India and Malaysia, have introduced COVID testing requirements on people arriving from China. However this ...
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2
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Amongst experts (scientists, political philosophers and ethicists), do lockdown mandates have majority support, or is their necessity uncertain? [closed]
Many countries had lockdowns during Covid.
It seemed that most scientists and health organizations supported them, and therefore, many government officials as well.
There were some contradictory ...
60
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7
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What do people who oppose Dr. Anthony Fauci believe he did wrong?
Elon Musk tweeted that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be “prosecuted”.
What did he do wrong?
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1
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Why is China still pursuing a zero-COVID policy?
With mutations making it more infectious, but less deadly, with effective vaccines, better health management and selective measures (like mask mandates in public transport or care homes), fewer people ...
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4
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Why do travel organisers still require "full immunisation"?
In the EU, a set of three Covid vaccinations was titled "full immunisation" in 2021 which is tantamount to "complete protection" from Covid.
Meanwhile it has turned out that the ...
5
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4
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Have any governments admitted that their approach to COVID was mistaken?
I'm looking for examples of governments where top officials have declared that their approach to COVID was incorrect in hindsight. Couple of hypothetical examples:
Swedish officials saying that their ...
22
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9
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Is opposition to COVID-19 vaccines correlated with other political beliefs? Why?
The answers to Is opposition to vaccination correlated with other political beliefs? suggest there is no strong correlation between opposition to vaccination and other political beliefs. The question ...
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1
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Why can't police beat citizens to enforce Covid lockdown? [closed]
Corporal punishment by Indian police in India was heavily criticized in the Western press -
Teargas, beatings, and bleach: the most extreme Covid-19 lockdown controls around the world
Why is it ...
6
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3
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What are the possible benefits of the Chinese government continuing to pursue a zero covid policy?
China seems to had done really well during the pandemic and has had far lower deaths than Europe and United states.
However as countries around the world vaccinate their population and learn to live ...
2
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2
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Why hasn't any country condemned the human right abuses of Chinese government for their Zero-COVID policies (cf. Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues)?
In history, the human right abuses in China were often condemned internationally, for example the forced labors in Xijiang camps and the crackdown of Hong Kong protests.
But it seems to me that the ...
17
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3
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Why did China fail to force their elderly to get vaccinated against COVID, despite being an authoritarian state?
Hong Kong has been in the news recently due to their extremely low vaccination rate for the elderly:
Just 15% of elderly residents in Hong Kong’s care homes are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, ...
9
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1
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Why was the Emergencies Act invoked in Canada with regard to the "Freedom Convoy"?
The Emergencies Act was invoked in response to the "freedom convoy" in Canada. I don't understand what makes this convoy so important to put the country in this situation. Why it is invoked?
2
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1
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Why would Canadian Green party members be highly supportive of the Freedom Convoy's demands to drop covid restrictions?
The Freedom Convoy are truckers and supporters who are protesting (and blockading) in Ottawa against covid measures. Ostensibly it started out with cross-border truckers getting a vaccine mandate, ...
4
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0
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what effect, if any, will the potentially over 1 million COVID deaths have on the outcome of the 2022 US midterm elections? [closed]
There are currently over 880,000 registered COVID deaths in the US, and every day another 2-3000 more are added to the tally, so it is very likely that by November, there will be over 1 million COVID ...
2
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0
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Why are COVID-19 vaccine mandates considered a source of racism in the US? [closed]
I've been reading a bit on the history of vaccine mandates, and it seems that multiple prominent groups have asserted that vaccine mandates are racist against minorities. I've read about the Tuskegee ...
39
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3
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Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
Upon reading that Quebec may impose a health tax on unvaccinated Canadians, I wondered the following: Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
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What efforts have been made to convince UK nurses etc to get vaccinated?
The Guardian reports that "nursing and midwifery leaders" have called to delay the Covid vaccination for everyone working in a health setting in the UK to avoid people being dismissed from ...
8
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1
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Now that entering the Bundestag is limited to vaccinated parliamentarians, (how) can unvaccinated ones still participate?
Starting Wednesday 12 January 2022 (i.e. today), the Bundestag (federal parliament of Germany) can only be accessed by people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (more precisely: either two doses of ...
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2
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Does the Supreme Court have a responsibility to save lives?
Listening to the Oral Arguments in Biden v. Missouri (whether to stay the injunction against the CMS vaccine mandate), I heard a line of argument by some of the justices that seemed (to me, a ...
4
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2
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Why do parts of the community object to mandatory vaccination, when practically all of them were vaccinated as children? [closed]
For what reasons do such a noticeable percentage of the community object to mandatory vaccination for COVID-19, when practically all of them were vaccinated for things like measles, chicken pox, when ...
3
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1
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Where are the public PPE contracts between Hinpack and the UK government?
Matt Hancock insists no contract between the government and his ex-pub-landlord's company Hinpack exists as part of the Covid PPE procurement rounds.
The Guardian states that
However, the contract ...
3
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3
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556
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Why do countries like India donate so many covid-19 vaccines when they have such a large population?
India has a population of more than 1.3 billion people, with about 42% of its population vaccinated. Considering it still, has a long way to go in vaccinations and the potential requirement of a ...
1
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2
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Why do some governments completely remove COVID-19 restrictions instead of keeping minimum ones?
This might happen in multiple countries, but I keep the question focused by considering Denmark's case.
Denmark removed all restrictions in September and was considering adding some restrictions at ...
16
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3
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Questionable COVID-19 procurement outside the UK
There is an ongoing situation in the UK regarding the propriety of the procurement of some goods and services during the response to COVID-19.
Conservative PPE contracts
Michael Gove and VIP lane
...
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1
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Why is Regeneron's Monoclonal Antibody COVID-19 treatment not being used in Canada? [closed]
In the United States, treating COVID using Regeneron's Monoclonal Antibody cocktail has been growing increasingly popular for its usefulness of treating patients at risk of hospitalization. It has FDA ...
2
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1
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283
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Do any countries have limits on healthcare personnel work hours?
One of the big problems during the pandemic was the stress caused by healthcare employees having to constantly work overtime to meet the huge spike in hospital patients infected with the virus. This ...
6
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2
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640
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Is there any country that officially banned "COVID-denial" or "COVID anti-vaccination" speech?
Romania has a very COVID-related mortality rate (when compared to the population) and the main cause seems to be the low vaccination rate:
The country is paying the price for having the European ...
3
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0
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Has Olaf Scholz made any comments about the proposed Covid-19 vaccines TRIPS waiver?
There have been calls for him to personally take a stance on the matter of the proposed TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 vaccines patents. The calls were in fact addressed to a few other potential future ...
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0
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Is there any study that tries to quantify the impact of Russian government support for anti vaccination?
Recently, the Russian government threatened to ban YouTube if it does not reinstate two German-language channels backed by the Russian state that were deleted for violating Covid misinformation ...
1
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0
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Is it still impossible to quarantine asymptomatic people in Portugal?
News from last year was that an appeals court in Lisbon had ruled that it was illegal to quarantine people based solely on a (SARS-CoV-2) PCR test result. (Apparently, their ruling only applied ...
3
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2
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How do vaccination rates compare between Israelis vs Palestinians in Israel?
Much has been made of the high and effective levels of vaccination in Israel - which has been seen as a lead country in the battle against Covid.
How do these levels vary between Israelis and ...
0
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4
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Political & electoral fallout from low vaxx rates among Republicans? [closed]
CNN published an article yesterday that outlined how states with the lowest vaccination rates, highest case rates, and (critical to this question), highest death rates are all run by Republican ...
6
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1
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Why is there strong opposition against vaccination and COVID-19 measures in Greece?
In Greece there is strong opposition against vaccines and any COVID-19 measures. Also, there's strong opposition against mandatory vaccination for health workers.
But I do not understand why there's ...
2
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1
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Why has the Greek goverment removed unvaccinated doctors from their positions until vaccinated?
According to a recent law, the Greek Government now mandates vaccination against Covid-19 for doctors and workers in elderly-care homes and medical staff. If they are not vaccinated they are removed ...
0
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0
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What's the Spanish PP position on masks?
The People's Party (PP) made headlines for winning a large share of votes the Madrid local election for their anti-lockdown stance.
I've also read that:
[The] Spanish parliament has approved a ...
1
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1
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Why is Spain not legislating vaccine-status check measures, after executive attempts to impose those were defeated in courts?
According to The Local (ES):
The reasoning of [Spanish] judges, both regional and national, is that having to prove Covid vaccination, testing or recovery status to enter a bar or visit a museum ...
3
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2
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245
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Has Russia offered an official explanation for dropping vaccination QR-code checks?
According to the Moscow Times (which is financed by a Dutch press conglomerate whose Russian-language publications Russia declares to be "foreign agents")
As the highly transmissible Delta ...
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1
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COVID-19: Why did the J & J vaccine disappeared in the U.S? [closed]
Update:
My significant other finally was able to get the J&J vaccine on October 15th, which is at least a partial answer here.
But in discussing it with a pharmacist, who had told me that they had ...
3
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0
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How did Mexican politicians justify keeping the border open without even requiring a COVID test?
Looking at the map of travel restrictions by country, one can see that Mexico and Colombia are truly unique:
They're currently the only nations not requiring a COVID test prior to arrival and not ...
21
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3
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Why wasn't Point Roberts given an exception to the Canada-US border closure?
Point Roberts is a small community in Washington off the tip of the Tsawwassen peninsula south of Vancouver, with a population of around a thousand. The only roads connecting Point Roberts to the rest ...
0
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1
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440
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Why doesn't Canada recognize the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine? [closed]
According to cbc.ca:
The government of Canada's website lists which vaccines are recognized
for the purposes of travel — Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna,
AstraZeneca-Oxford, and Johnson and Johnson — and ...
2
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1
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What is China's plan for COVID now that their vaccination program is close to completion?
According to the Bloomberg dashboard, China has now fully vaccinated 75% of their population:
I'm assuming they're eventually aiming for ~95% coverage given that they've already approved the vaccine ...
19
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3
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Why is North Korea refusing COVID vaccine donations?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kim-jong-un-rejects-covid-vaccine-offer-urges-north-korea-n1278445
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to wage a tougher
epidemic prevention campaign ...
4
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3
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China's Reactions to Independent Investigations
Australia called for a COVID-19 probe. China responded with a trade war
Last year marked the first time Australia referred China to the World Trade Organization during a trade war between the two ...
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1
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Why would a mask mandate be needed if masks are extremely popular
Massachusetts Governor Baker says that he doesn't want to institute a state-wide mandate for masks in schools, he's leaving the decision up to individual municipalities.
A recent MassINC poll found ...