Many democracies have succeeded at curbing the pandemic. South Korea and Taiwan responded swiftly to COVID-19, implementing effective testing and contract tracing policies. New Zealand also stands out as a democracy with one of the lowest number of cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per million citizens in the world. New Zealand’s low levels of infections and deaths—as well as low disparities in infections and death across populations—is often credited to its swift and concerted pandemic response.