Fighting COVID-19 in China’s Greater Bay Area: how do different policy styles affect policy effectiveness?

The study demonstrates that effective pandemic response depends on governance-society alignment, particularly during early outbreaks. While all three systems achieved relative success, their effectiveness varied based on institutional capacity, suggesting that successful crisis management requires consideration of political social structures while maintaining adaptability in transitioning from containment to endemic management. These findings offer a transferable framework for evaluating governance effectiveness in public health crises beyond the Greater Bay Area.