; Whereas the Republic of South Korea has taken its place on the world stage as one of the most vibrant democracies, they built a concentrated domestic testing program and were the first to share test kits, authoritarian regimes concealed the truth through an elaborate disinformation campaign and blamed democracies as the origin of COVID–19; Whereas the United States remains committed to a system of checks and balances and protecting access to government officials, authoritarian regimes detain or imprison those who dare to criticize their leaders; Whereas Denmark was an early adopter of recommended social distancing practices and its citizens rallied behind their leaders in hopes of having an early return to normalcy, authoritarian regimes mislead and disenfranchised their people; Whereas Australia established a working group of Federal, State, and local leaders to share information and increase resource utilization, authoritarian regimes centralized power to ensure only the dissemination of information favorable to the state and prevent citizen oversight of corrupt practices; Whereas Iceland built their response on a robust testing program, authoritarian regimes’ censorship actions delayed the implementation of public health strategies, exposing a deep mistrust of the government; Whereas Canada trusted their medical experts to lead public health initiatives, authoritarian regimes rejected the findings of medical experts, such as Dr. Li Wenliang; Whereas Germany pursued meticulous contact tracing to slow the spread of the virus, authoritarian regimes have taken extreme measures forcing their people into isolation, including welding closed the doors of their homes; Whereas Japan treasured the health of Olympic visitors ahead of economic prosperity, authoritarian regimes placed regime security over global public health