Estonian response to COVID-19 pandemic: learning, cooperation, and the advantages of being a small country

Resposta da Estônia à pandemia da COVID-19: aprendizagem, cooperação e as vantagens de ser um país pequeno

Respuesta de Estonia a la pandemia de COVID-19: aprendizaje, cooperación y las ventajas de ser un país pequeño

Abstract

Compared to many other countries in Europe, Estonia managed to curtail the spread of the new coronavirus rather effectively. This paper offers an overview of the measures undertaken to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in March-May 2020 and explain why Estonia managed to successfully contain the epidemic. The paper argues that the management of the crisis was facilitated by political factors, quick policy learning, cooperation with the scientific community, and the existing ICT and e-government infrastructure.

Keywords:
COVID-19; Estonia; policy learning; crisis management