“Trust” in the Fight Against COVID-19
In recent weeks, COVID-19 numbers have surged in Europe, prompting governments to mandate measures such as national lockdown, restrictions for the unvaccinated, etc. These measures have been met with organized protests across numerous countries in Europe, with many turning violent. However, in some parts of Europe, at least before the recent wave of COVID in Europe, pre-pandemic life was resumed in countries such as Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden. In their fight against the pandemic, experts claim that these countries experience a higher degree of trust for government institutions than most other countries, giving them a leg up in the fight against COVID-19. For example, vaccine rollout measures and tracking programs, which have been met with protests in other European countries, have been carried out in Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden to keep the virus under control. Looking at research on interpersonal trust and institutional trust, Northern European nations seem to have significantly higher than European average trust in the legal system, police, and political system. In particular, in Sweden trust in people and politicians has remained relatively high and stable in the past two decades whereas the US has experienced declining interpersonal trust as well as trust in government institutions in the past four decades. Trust was said in the article to have a positive correlation with the economic well-being as well as the general well-being of a nation. Trust allows for easier implementation and less resistance to drastic policies beneficial to fighting against COVID-19 and lessens the rate of vaccine misinformation, which has been rampant in countries with less degree of institutional trust.
Like with the information cascade we learned in class, most people across the world have the decision to make whether to get the vaccine or not. With the current vaccination statistics around many parts of the developed world, the vaccination rate has stagnated, meaning those who believe in the vaccine have mostly already been vaccinated, while those who reject the current vaccine mostly haven’t been vaccinated. What we observe is like two networks of an information cascade, each with their information, and individuals often look to others to decide whether to get vaccinated or not. In countries with less degree of trust, we see that there is more space for misinformation, which creates a cascade of this misinformation whereas in countries with a higher degree of trust, people follow the signal of public institutions to a closer extent and as a result, more and more people accept the vaccine. Even when doubts are in place, often the public signal in some of these countries is overwhelmingly greater than private signals that most individuals choose to be vaccinated. Through these two articles, trust in a country is crucial in preventing the cascade of COVID-19 misinformation in many parts of the world. Whether public institutions and governments can establish trust will be crucial in the fight against a potential new wave of COVID-19 as Omicron looms over our future.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-some-eu-countries-managed-to-ditch-covid-19-restrictions/a-59212442
https://ourworldindata.org/trust