Objective
To provide a quick, in the moment analysis of the social and political aspects of the COVID‐19 pandemic to preserve the possibly ephemeral aspects that might be overlooked in future historical studies.
Methods
Qualitative and a statistical analyses of real time information.
Results
The clustering of former imperial powers as states suffering extreme initial impacts, combined with a brief qualitative commentary on the domestic politics related to the pandemic response, suggests that colonial imperialism has lingering domestic political effects.
Conclusion
The domestic political power bases that enabled colonial imperialism may be a significant and previously unrecognized factor in politics both in the context of disaster response and more broadly.