The Faeroes have gone a whole week without a new case, looking like they have won, with zero deaths.
The whole concept of framing a particular country as have "
won" during the coronavirus pandemic is aberrant and misguided. This is not a contest! This is not a competition! For some disturbing and unexplained reason, Nigel still feels compelled to keep couching things is these terms. Putting aside for the time being the question of the morality of such thinking is that such thinking utilizes flawed logic and ignores the obvious facts.
The true fact of the matter is that each nation facing this unprecedented crisis has their own unique circumstances to contend with in dealing with the situation. It is impossible to make valid comparisons. Certainly, the outcomes (so far) have been heavily influenced by how well or how poorly individual leaders and other government officials have handled the matter, especially in regards to testing, and the US and UK are not exactly shining examples of proactive leadership here with the results being self evident and tragic. But many other determinants are involved before one can reach any conclusions.
There is literally no reasonable or logical way to make a valid comparison between the UK or USA with a tiny territory like Faroe Islands even if you attempt to fudge the facts or use arbitrary, irrelevant numbers.
Let's examine NIgel's following claim:
the country that has done the most tests is the Faeroes, with 122,403 tests per million people in their population
Now that sounds very impressive until you stop to engage in some much needed critical thinking. Certainly, compared to the US and the UK, the Faroe Island has made some intelligent decisions with regard to testing and they made them early. I think they are to be commended for what they've achieved. While commendable though, claiming that they did 122,403 tests per million is intentionally misleading.
Only a single comparison is required to see how ridiculous such a statement is if you want to make an absurd remark like, "
they have won" because it is so outrageously lacking in context.
The Faroe Islands has a population of only 52,110 people (2020 estimate) living in an area of 540 square miles. Of course, it is an isolated island territory with limited transport a single modest sized airport and no railroads. To date, Faroe Islands is on record as having tested 10% of their population for coronavirus. Again, while commendable, that's only 5200 people, an easily achievable number under such circumstances, probably under any circumstances in a westernized society, even with the limited and compromised testing capabilities we've been witnessing in various localities.
Let's take a look at New York City as a comparison. Unlike isolated Faroe Islands, NYC is the most populous city in the United States. It is one of the most important international centers of world trade and commerce and hosts many millions of foreign and domestic travelers a year. NYC has a total area of 468 square miles of which only 303 square miles is dry land! This is far less than the entirety of the Faroe Islands at 540 square miles! But New York City (all 5 boroughs) has a population of nearly 8.5 million people. Taking the borough of Manhattan alone you have a land area of only 22.83 square miles with a population of 1,628,706. And that's not all. On any given day the island of Manhattan's population doubles when another 1,628,000 commute to the city from the greater metro area and beyond for employment, tourism, education and commerce. Is it any wonder that a city with such a population density in such a small area would experience a dramatic outbreak of a highly infectious disease?
And so, to make an arbitrary claim that "The Faroe Islands has Won!" (because they were able to test several thousand members, 10%, of their tiny population) compared to a nation like the US or even a single city like New York is assigning an absurd degree of
handicapping. And the whole idea of conceptualizing a worldwide pandemic as some sort of
Machiavellian contest between nations is daft, immoral and downright ridiculous! Nobody wins here.
