What Cuba has to teach the world

It has escaped the world's attention that Cuba has dealt with the virus surprisingly well. It has a well established network of contact tracers (and, surprise, surprise: it's all done without the need for 'outsourcing'). It's quite simple: you just knock on people's doors and ask about the people they've been in touch with. You just need lots of contact tracers, shoe leather, and time. Medieval and Renaissance Italy pioneered this, as well as giving double entry bookkeeping to the world.

The World Health Organisation could do us all a favour by funding the export of Cuban contact tracers all over the world. After all, Cuba has been exporting its health expertise all over the world for sixty years. It deserves a bit of international recognition. And I'm sure that states (including our own) would welcome Cuban expertise, as we appear to have been having a spot of difficulty in this particular area. (Let Dido Harding et al put their feet up: it's clearly much too complex for them). Perhaps even Biden could welcome their assistance with open arms, and immediately lift the embargo on Cuba. The Republicans would breathe fire, but they're going to do that anyway.

Just to clarify: I am defending Cuba's record on public health, not its imprisonment of political opponents or its appalling record on LGBT rights. As you can be reassured that the writer of this blog is not a 'communist', please attend to the substance of the argument, and think on it.