April 26, 2021
(Updated May 6, 2021)
Keio University
Responses to COVID-19 are entrusted to local governments, and the impact, countermeasures, and their effectiveness vary greatly by region. Professor Yutaka Hamaoka of the Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce selected 10 indicators from the perspectives of "health impact," "countermeasures," "citizen cooperation," and "economic impact" to evaluate and rank the COVID-19 response status of the 47 prefectures.
Tottori and Shimane prefectures were ranked at the top of the overall rankings, while Osaka and Tokyo prefectures were at the bottom. Tottori Prefecture, which ranked highest, excelled in two "countermeasure" items—"cumulative number of tests per cumulative positive case" and "number of secured hospital beds per capita"—and showed a generally favorable situation overall. On the other hand, Osaka Prefecture had low scores on all indicators, making it clear that a comprehensive overhaul of its countermeasures is necessary.
It is well known that some countries, such as Taiwan and New Zealand, have successfully contained the spread of the virus by strengthening their testing systems, and Tottori Prefecture, which has implemented similar measures domestically, was also ranked high. While rankings by media outlets, such as "politician rankings for COVID-19 response," tend to emphasize name recognition, it is necessary to evaluate performance based on data and to advance countermeasures by learning from successful cases both abroad and at home.
The results of this research were published in "Kagaku" (Science) (May 2021, Iwanami Shoten).
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