Culture, Freedom, and the Spread of Covid-19: Do Some Societies and Political Systems Have National Anti-Bodies?

Public health scholars have previously explored the impact of culture upon various aspects of infectious disease policy Similarly, regime type, while less studied, has been suggested as a possible explanation for varying rates of efficacy in infection vulnerability, mitigation, and abatement The COVID-19 pandemic offers an intriguing opportunity to test whether culture or level of societal freedom affects how different societies manage a serious pandemic challenge We examine whether societies that are more free or have different cultures are more or less effective at managing the spread of COVID-19 To examine possible correlational pathways, we conduct a country-level regression analysis After controlling for population size, income, stringency of government policies, population density, and age dispersion, we find that the level of freedom in a political system is unrelated to rates of COVID-19 infection, at least in the time period under study By contrast, two cultural families seemed to show at least temporary superiority in disease response: Confucian and South Asian culturally affiliated nations While our results may be artifacts of aspects of the disease not yet revealed by science, if they are sustained by future research, they potentially offer insights into unusual intersections of culture and public health