Fighting the first wave: why the coronavirus was tackled so differently across the globe

Introduction : one threat, many responses

Science, politics, and history : do they explain the variety of approaches to Covid-19?

New dogs, old tricks : fighting Covid-19 with ancient preventive tactics

The politics of prevention : how state and citizen interacted, battling the virus

What was done? : Act 1 of the pandemic

Why the preventive playing field was not level : geography, prosperity, society

Where and why science mattered : traditional Chinese medicine, herd immunity, asymptomatic carriers, superspreading, and masks

From state to citizen : the individualization of public health

Who is responsible for our health? : how prevention was enforced

Difficult decisions in hard times : trade-offs between being safe and being solvent

Conclusion : public health and public goods : the state in a post-pandemic world.