A comparative study of Covid-19: a purposeful agent, a myopic political leader
for Christian Ahlgren*, Irvine Lapsley**, Kary Nyland***
NTNU, Trondheim ** University of Edinburgh *** NTNU, Trondheim The authors of this article salute the dedicated courage and professionalism of the health care professionals of Bergamo and Milan who were the first Europeans to face this new and unknown disease.
This article offers insights into the Covid-19 Pandemic by comparing the experiences of Norway and the UK. The Norwegian case study has distinctive characteristics. It offers evidence of an agile government at work and evidence of a successful clinical experience with the Norwegian management leading the Covid pandemic. This was a successful approach with low mortality rates and a protected population. By contrast, the UK experience was quite different. Clinical expertise was available to politicians who managed the pandemic, but this relationship was tense and contested over the pandemic. The political steering of the UK pandemic was erratic and unpredictable. The Government was initially keen on herd immunity but discarded this approach in early 2020 when it became clear that the fatalities would be grim. The UK Prime Minister is a member of the libertarian wing of his political party which opposes to the principle of intervening in the lives of citizens. This meant the UK Prime Minister was in a conflicted position. This was evidenced by his reluctance to have lockdowns and the slowness with which lockdowns were initiated and, according to experts, this cost many lives. The fatalities in the UK were among the worst in the world.
