New Zealand has been the country often held up as the model for pandemic response. The country’s restrictions each time there has been a surge in cases have enabled New Zealanders to enjoy the kinds of freedoms that other countries did not have during the first pandemic year. Meanwhile, recent lockdowns in China have led to unrest among citizens. The country’s restrictive measures have caused food shortages, delayed medical care, shipping being shut down, and even fencing being erected around residents’ homes.
What can we learn from different public health and government approaches for mitigating the spread of the virus? Our guests discuss those questions and share their experiences:
- Theodore Brown, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history and medical humanities at the University of Rochester
- Mike Johansson, social media strategist now living in New Zealand
- Hairong Shang-Butler, Ph.D., native of China, and associate professor and director of international TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester
