In October 2019 the Global Health Security Index published a report about global preparedness for epidemics and pandemics.
It led to this graphic with was flogged by various news sites and the World Economic Forum. The U.S. and Britain were claimed to be the leaders in pandemic preparedness.
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Then came the pandemic and Britain and the U.S. turned out to be leaders in cumulative deaths per million people.
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One might think that the above discrepancy would have led to some humility and restraint in those who create such rankings.
But no:
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The Bloomberg tweet is somewhat unexplainable. It was evidently much better to be in China, Vietnam or New Zealand during the pandemic than to be in the U.S. – at least if one wanted to be free to travel within the country, stay employed and alive. So what explains that nonsense ranking in the tweet?
Evidently the Bloomberg authors who came up with this have put their fingers on the scale:
Now, the ability to essentially turn back the clock and return to pre-pandemic times is taking on an even greater significance.
Central to that is an economy’s openness to the world, and that’s why we’ve introduced a new element—Reopening Progress—to Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking. Two new metrics capture the ease of moving in and out of a place and how much air travel has recovered, alongside our 10 other measures tracking mortality rates to infection counts, freedom of movement to economic growth.
This pivot has ushered in dramatic changes to the ranks. The U.S. is now No. 1, …
"We added two arbitrary criteria with little relevance that now let the U.S. look great. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A."
Their methodology shows that they mix discretionary criteria that change from month to month with others that cover the last eighteen month. The ranking in total death per capita is one of twelve criteria in their ranking but so is the number of currently open flight routes to foreign countries. These criteria are given equal weight!
The ranking in a forecast for GDP growth in 2021 is included but not the 2020 drop in GDP that the pandemic has caused in the first place. A country with a steep drop in its 2020 GDP that is now recovering will thus look better, and will be ranked higher, than one that had no 2020 GDP drop at all.
Long story short: The ranking is utter bullshit.
