With the cold season approaching in the northern hemisphere, it is becoming increasingly - and worryingly - clear that a winter of disease, and discontent, looms. Reports show the dismal level of Covid-19 cases in the United States. Some hospitals are apparently running short of medical supplies even as demand for testing rises, partly because even common flu symptoms are making people nervous. Europe is fully into a second wave, and India is the second country where infections have now topped seven million cases. British cases are doubling every week. Countries like Germany that appeared to handle the initial outbreak effectively have now been forced to take countermeasures to tackle the disease.
Not surprisingly, some of the worst affected countries are those where political leaders were dismissive of science, notably the US and Brazil, the latter where President Jair Bolsonaro initially likened Covid-19 to the flu and said it should be faced "like a man, not a boy". Brazil's Covid-19 count has topped five million, with some 150,000 deaths. The man he admires, US President Donald Trump, has likewise adopted a dismissive attitude that has spread among many Americans. Both leaders were infected. Mr Trump has just returned to the White House after treatment at a military facility not accessible to most Americans.
Much of their approach and outlook is related to politics, no doubt. Whether it is Mr Trump, facing an election in three weeks, or his ally, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is playing tough on a Brexit trade deal with the European Union, their self-image, public posture and politics suggest that their administrations are not actively developing robust firewalls and defence systems against this runaway disease. The costs of ignoring science, and simple common sense, are distressing. US studies show that while males suffer disproportionately in terms of Covid-19 morbidity, the economic fallout hits women harder, especially in lost livelihoods and earnings. Britain's economy shrank by a fifth in the second quarter.
Mr Johnson has issued a plea for those who can work from home to do so until the virus is under control - just weeks after encouraging a return to the office and workplaces. Mr Trump's White House is now a disease epicentre with many aides ill. All this comes with geopolitical consequences for debt and growth - when it need not have been the case. Heeding science and epidemiological experts and committing to share international data and findings can still be instrumental to charting a path to opening up. What has happened in many Covid-19-hit nations is an approach dictated by political pressure, interest groups and populism. This has not only endangered the wider society but also weakened businesses and set back the potential for recovery when countries could have been taking small but significant steps forward.
