Thank you for your response Amrita. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Thank you for your response Amrita. I really appreciate you taking the time.

I completely agree with you that now is NOT the time to get complacent at all. However, the intent of my article is to compare what measures were mandated by each government to curb the spread, and in that department, I certainly think Mauritius went the extra mile, especially when it comes to the shopping rules, as well as isolating every single case, whether or not they are symptomatic.

I definitely agree that more could have been done, especially when it comes to repatriating Mauritians. I hope they will do so soon. However, of the measures they did take to contain the virus locally, I think they did a good job in such a short amount of time, and especially when you compare the resources and infrastructure that Mauritius has, compared to the U.S. or Canada. It wasn’t perfect, but it did impress me. And I’m not usually very impressed by the Mauritian government… I can assure you that…

While I agree that an island has topographical advantages, Canada only shares borders with the US, though a very very expansive border. But my main beef with their measures is that it seemed more perfunctory at first, not rigorously enforced. Canada never implemented temperature screening. After Italy was a hotspot, there were reports from passengers coming from Italy who were shocked that they breezed through the airport with no further screening at YUL, one of the designated screening airports.

9/11 and previous wars lead me to believe that the U.S. has the ability to react faster and more cohesively at the federal level when it wants to, but did not do so in this case because Trump was hoping it would go away and the stock market would be doing well when it’s election time. Every day, there is misinformation in the US and some people still aren’t taking this seriously enough. The focus for the right is how much the economy will suffer. They’re not talking about how many Americans are dying because of lack of coverage. They’re not talking about how many people got infected because they didn’t shut down the beaches in Florida or the churches in some of the western states soon enough. There doesn’t seem to be a decisive, cohesive plan on the national level.

Canada is doing much better in terms of their messaging, as pointed out in the article. I like that Prime Minister Trudeau constantly emphasizes his reliance on public health officials and medical experts. He does a good job of calling for Canadian solidarity.

I don’t claim that the economies of Mauritius, Canada or U.S.A. are comparable, but I think it is fair to compare the leadership and agility shown by the three governments.

I did not know about the vitamin D deficiency being a factor. That is interesting and as an expert in your field, I’m sure you’ve done your research. However, immunity is one thing. But can the added immunity after summertime be more than enough to compensate for the difference between raising awareness instead of minimizing the problem, erring on the side of caution instead waiting and seeing, mandating strict sanitary rules in shops instead of leaving it to businesses to volunteer to do so? I can’t say for sure, but I highly doubt so.

But, I agree with you, we need to stay vigilant! It’s not over yet in Mauritius. It’s a sign that the government is doing the right thing, but it’s not over yet.

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