re: How did Japan and South Korea beat COVID?

US obesity rate: 36%
Korea: 4.7%
Japan: 4.3%

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How did Japan and South Korea beat COVID?

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They all weigh about 45 pounds.

In Japan's case, being on an Island with naturally secure borders helped.

And no one is crossing the border between South Korea and North Korea.

Prior exposure to SARS and MERS.

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sand mountainDvalues

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Then wear you mask. If they work so well, why do you care if I wear mine. You're protected; I'm taking a risk.

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Had nothing to do with their control of Covid-19.

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Had nothing to do with their control of Covid-19

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Has a lot to do with being homogeneous. Consider the secondary implications of a homogeneous society - the elected officials will inevitably be very close to your value set. While there are differences of opinion, even on a National level the elections will have about the same diversity of views as a local single party primary in the US.

This then also means its easier for the populous to "trust" their officials - which drives conformity to rules.

Also not mentioned, and this is true even comparing the US to even other Western Nations (e.g. Europe or Australia) - Americans are very risk tolerant compared to most of the world.

There's a reason "giving up everything" and chasing a dream is more common in the USA than it is in other Western cultures, even though the penalties for not making it are more severe. We generally don't solely seek stability like many do in other nations, we accept risk.

With respect to the virus, the raw stats are generally within the risk tolerance of many Americans, whereas they are not within the risk tolerance of Asians or even comparable Western countries.

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you actually believe that?

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I generally would. China I wouldn't trust, but coming out of Japan/SK I'm fine with it.

It only becomes BS if you try to superimpose US culture on top of their own, which isn't accurate.

For instance, they flat our worship their elderly - to the point that their whole language changes (greetings, etc..) just because someone they're talking to may be older. Right away the virus proved that age is (by far) the most dependent variable that leads to COVID death. They simply would not ride that out.

You also can't take the written letter of what their 'restrictions' are and compare it to how an American would read those same rules. If a government official in Japan says "It would be better if we all avoided other people", it will hold double the weight of a "Stay at Home" order would here - even though nothing was ever written down as policy. Younger kids may skirt those rules, however they will quickly get shamed into compliance.

The key value difference is simply the US (for a multitude of historical reasons) has a culture of individual accountability, whereas the Asian cultures are much more strongly founded on group accountability.

Group accountability requires a shared value set, which is counter to the American foundation which is firmly rooted in individual liberties (which in turn allows for a divergence of values to coexist).

Besides, the phrase "Lockdowns don't work" is literally untrue - if you stop all human interactions a virus will stop spreading. The complete idea is "Lockdowns don't work in European derived cultures with centuries old foundations of individual liberties, lawful disagreement, and explicit controls on government"