Autocracies with low state capacity generally failed to mount an effective response to COVID-19. Burundi, for example, tried to ignore the pandemic and suppress information, which did nothing to resolve the crisis and resulted in their outgoing president dying of the disease. Autocracies with stringent policies also failed to counter COVID-19. In Hungary, Prime Minister Orbán placed military commanders in charge of hospitals, punished journalists for reporting on the pandemic, and allowed the military to use deadly force against civilians who did not obey pandemic orders. However, these harsh policies have not been effective—as of writing (June 2021), Hungary has the second-highest number of cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million citizens in the world.