Bloomberg: Greece in Top 20 Best Places to Be During Covid-19

Greece has made “reopening progress”, according to Bloomberg, moving up the resilience ranking this month from 33rd spot in May to 19th in June making it into the Top 20 best places to be in during Covid-19.

According to Bloomberg analysts, the best and worst places to be in the Covid-19 era are now defined by “normalization” and the ability of economies to return to pre-pandemic times and to an improved quality of life through vaccination. In view of the change of focus, Bloomberg introduces a new element: Reopening Progress.

Aiming to assess which of the 53 economies under examination are reopening best, the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking zeroed in on vaccination rollout progress, lockdown severity and two new metrics tracking ease of travel and how much air travel has recovered, in addition to 10 other measures tracking mortality rates to infection counts, freedom of movement to economic growth.

In the lead, the US with an overall resilience score of 76, thanks to its fast and far-reaching vaccination campaign, followed by New Zealand (73.7), Switzerland (72.9), Israel (72.9) and France (72.8).

Greece is in 19^th spot with an overall resilience score of 65.8, a total of 36.9 percent vaccinated, 45^th in terms of lockdown severity, and down by 42.9 percent in flight capacity.

Source: Bloomberg

Other key takeaways include countries in Europe such as Switzerland, France and Spain are in the top 10 after reopening their borders to vaccinated tourists. At the same time, hospitalizations have dropped thanks to vaccination rollouts. EU states are the fastest in adopting quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travelers: Romania, Switzerland and Spain are the most connected to the world according to the Vaccinated Travel Routes indicator.

Bloomberg analysts note that the ranking captures “a snapshot in time” and that there’s no guarantee that the US and Europe will continue to be in the lead as outbreaks continue with the emergence of new mutations, including the Delta variant. Due to the fast spread of Delta, the UK has delayed reopening plans for a month while Israel, ranked No 4, has now reinstated indoor mask-wearing.

In its next ranking, Bloomberg will focus on whether economies can leave the pandemic behind.