In this article, we argue that the design and timing of regulatory responses, as well as the adherence of the population to the relevant rules, have a critical impact on the progression and public health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This hypothesis is empirically tested using the example of Poland, a country that experienced, compared to its Western European neighbours, a relatively mild first phase of the pandemic. In this context, we compare Poland with selected countries, including France, Germany, Spain and the UK, and we supplement them with examples from other Visegrad Four (V4) countries – Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. On that basis, we conclude that while the observed differences between the countries in the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic are the result of a multitude of complex and interrelated reasons (such as demographic structure, population density and connectivity or cultural factors), well-designed public health measures, which are implemented early as a part of the proactive strategy that anticipates and reacts quickly to changing circumstances, can effectively decrease the number of COVID-19 infections and related deaths, provided that the adherence of the relevant population is high.

中文翻译：

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法规在抗击 COVID-19 大流行中是否重要？波兰的教训

在本文中，我们认为监管响应的设计和时间安排，以及民众对相关规则的遵守情况，对 COVID-19 大流行的进展和公共卫生后果具有至关重要的影响。使用波兰的例子对这一假设进行了实证检验，与西欧邻国相比，该国经历了相对温和的大流行第一阶段。在此背景下，我们将波兰与包括法国、德国、西班牙和英国在内的选定国家进行比较，并以其他维谢格拉德四 (V4) 国家（捷克、斯洛伐克和匈牙利）的示例对其进行补充。在此基础上，