The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic puts countries and their governments in an unprecedented situation. Strong countermeasures have been implemented in most places, but how much do people trust their governments in handling this crisis? Using data from a worldwide survey, conducted between March 20th and April 22nd, 2020, with more than 100,000 participants, we study people’s perceptions of government reactions in 57 countries. We find that media freedom reduces government trust directly as well as indirectly via a more negative assessment of government reactions as either insufficient or too strict. Higher level of education is associated with higher government trust and lower tendency to judge government reactions as too extreme. We also find different predictors of perceived insufficient reactions vs. too-extreme reactions. In particular, number of COVID-19 deaths significantly predicts perceived insufficient reactions but is not related to perceived too-extreme reactions. Further survey evidence suggests that conspiracy theory believers tend to perceive government countermeasures as too strict.

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Controlled irrigation and drainage (CID) has received attention for improving water quality. Under CID condition, water stress is frequently experienced in two contexts: first drought and then flooding (FDTF) and first flooding and then drought (FFTD). This study aimed to investigate the effects of FDTF and FFTD on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) dynamics in paddy water at different growth stages. The effects of water stress on the migration and transformation of N and P were also investigated. Results showed that CID can decrease N and P concentrations in surface water.NH4+-Nwas the major form of N in surface drainage and percolation water. Mean total phosphorus (TP),NH4+-N, andNO3--Nconcentrations were significantly higher than in FFTD during the growth stage. MeanNH4+-N,NO3--N, and TP concentrations were significantly higher in percolation water under flooding stress than those under drought stress at growth stage, except for mean TP concentrations at milky stage (stage IV). Meanwhile, flooding can sharply increase theNH4+-N,NO3--N, and TP concentrations in percolation water after drought. Thus, without CID, the considerably highNH4+-N,NO3--N, and TP concentrations via runoff and leaching can be responsible for the eutrophication of water bodies in the vicinity of paddy fields during the rice growing season when water stress transforms from drought into flooding.