URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

Brendan Mark Assistant Professor Political Science

“We’re seeing that people who have access to technology are faring better than those who don’t, said Mark. “Countries that don’t have widespread internet networks and access to computers will suffer the most, as will individuals in lower income brackets or members of other vulnerable groups.” According to Professor Mark, in the beginning of the pandemic the fear of the virus made lockdowns politically acceptable, despite the massive impacts on our lives, jobs and finances. However, as the lockdowns worked and cases decreased, countries rapidly started to re-open leading again to rapid viral spread. “A useful way of thinking about this is we can sort countries into one of two groups,” said Mark. “One, is we have seen populist leaders in countries like the United Kingdom, India, the United States and Brazil, pushing an anti-science agenda and downplaying the risks of the pandemic and these countries have done much worse than others. “These countries adopted policies to combat the pandemic late and reluctantly. A lot of their political capital was used to avoid blame for the pandemic rather than to step up and combat it.” In other countries we have seen leaders take a much more pro-active, pro-science response. “New

Zealand and Germany are doing particularly well,” Mark said. “A great fact that I like to point out is that countries where women are heads of states are doing much better than countries where men are heads of state.” Part of this is because in these countries, leaders have taken measures to control the pandemic, while also taking extraordinary steps to educate the public and prevent conspiracy theories from taking hold. “In the U.S. a quarter of the of the population think the coronavirus was manmade, planned and released — there’s not actually evidence for that,” said Mark. “In the UK people have been burning down 5G cell towers because there’s a conspiracy theory asserting that they cause COVID-19. We’re not really seeing that level of anti-science beliefs in the countries where leaders have taken pro-active steps, and it is those countries that are doing much better.” There is hope here in New England, where the virus positivity rate has, in recent months, been in better control than the current trends seen in the south and Midwest of the U.S. Moreover, with the pending change of the executive branch, and a fresh slate with a newly formed presidential-elect COVID-19 advisory task force, we have an opportunity to gain control and protect millions of lives.

“The economic impacts of this are going to be massive on a global scale. They are going to define our generation.”

- Brendan Mark

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