COVID-19 and the state: Nicaragua case study
WIDER Working Papers
; 41(19), 2022.
Article
in English
| GIM | ID: covidwho-1965137
ABSTRACT
Unlike Latin American peers, and contrary to World Health Organization recommendations, Nicaragua eschewed lockdowns and other common strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Analysts have since demonstrated how Nicaraguan authorities dramatically under-reported the number of deaths and infections that resulted (though a dearth of data complicates cross-country comparisons). Questions remain about the government's decision to pursue a hands-off strategy in the first place. This paper argues that rather than optimizing for fewer cases and deaths, the authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega instead attuned its pandemic response to other, political and economic, variables. In the context of a pre-existing sociopolitical crisis that threatened the regime's legitimacy and territorial control, policy-makers were primarily interested in safeguarding macroeconomic indicators and fomenting a sense of normalcy among the populace. For related reasons, they restricted public health information and criminalized citizen-led public health efforts. In the Nicaraguan case, government and leadership mattered more than state capacity in determining the public health response.
case studies; coronavirus disease 2019; data collection; government; human diseases; pandemics; politics; public health; viral diseases; authority; man; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Nicaragua; Homo; Hominidae; primates; mammals; vertebrates; Chordata; animals; eukaryotes; Cacm; Central America; America; Latin America; lower-middle income countries; medium Human Development Index countries; Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus; Betacoronavirus; Coronavirinae; Coronaviridae; Nidovirales; positive-sense ssRNA Viruses; ssRNA Viruses; RNA Viruses; viruses; data logging; SARS-CoV-2; viral infections
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
GIM
Type of study:
Case report
Country/Region as subject:
Central America
/
Nicaragua
Language:
English
Journal:
WIDER Working Papers
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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