The example of the United States may also be instructive for advocates of federalism here. In the United States, we have seen no significant national response to the pandemic, with each state fending for itself, with the unfortunate result that so many weeks into the pandemic, some eight or nine states still have not issued stay-at-home orders that could save lives. Worse, the states are now bidding against each other to obtain scarce medical equipment such as personal protective equipment and ventilators needed to deal with the pandemic, a situation that disadvantages smaller, less economically powerful states. Would a federal system of government here not suffer from the same flaw?

Of course, these questions can be more seriously addressed much later, when we have finally weathered the COVID-19 storm. It is not too early to think about them now, however, from the safety of our own homes