Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[xenogear3]

It seems to many here and in the West that China can do no right.

No government has ever tried to lockdown a 10+ million people city. It has a good reason not to.
But this Chinese government has to be different.

Just treat it like a flu.
Inform people and let them decide themselves. They are more likely stay at home.

If you lockdown and arrest sick people, they run to other cities.
Now you lockdown more cities. Rinse and repeat.

[Zatheyll]

No government has ever tried to lockdown a 10+ million people city. It has a good reason not to.
But this Chinese government has to be different.

Just treat it like a flu.
Inform people and let them decide themselves. They are more likely stay at home.

If you lockdown and arrest sick people, they run to other cities.
Now you lockdown more cities. Rinse and repeat.

If you don't want a lockdown, then don't be surprised when the virus spreads throughout the world and becomes endemic. One or the other, you can't easily have both.

I'm not saying I'm for a lockdown, and think it could have been handled without fully locking down the city, but I'm also not entirely aware of the full situation in Wuhan. I appreciate what other provinces are doing, but those provinces don't have anywhere close to as many cases as Hubei does.

Also, assuming people would stay home is very optimistic. Older Chinese people are not known for their health, and even with what is happening now they have to be told again and again to wear masks and stay indoors.

It's a catch-22 for China. Lock down the city, face wrath and be called evil, don't lock down the city, face wrath and be called stupid.


It's also important to note: the people who left Wuhan didn't "flee the city". They were leaving anyways. Chinese New Year is the largest human migration on Earth. Three billion trips in a 40 day period. Those 5 million that left Wuhan before the lockdown already had their tickets and destinations in mind, many left Wuhan before many of you probably knew what the virus was.

[shadowmouse]

I'm not saying I'm for a lockdown, and think it could have been handled without fully locking down the city, but I'm also not entirely aware of the full situation in Wuhan.

Another time, perhaps, but not Spring Festival.

Any big city in China is supported by a huge number of migrant workers, I have no reason to believe that Wuhan is any different. Many migrant workers bust their asses all year, and Spring Festival is the only chance they get to see parents, kids, and perhaps even their husband or wife. Beyond that, China may no longer practice ancestor worship, but there are still families who keep charts instead of tablets (I've shared the evening with students from time to time) and "Chinese New Year" is the time to remember family, especially the departed, and even more so the recently departed. In a sense, telling Chinese not to go home for Spring Festival is very close to telling someone from another country to not go home for a close relative's funeral. Those are just the cultural elements, which I'm guessing you know, but many others here probably don't.

Beyond that, the Spring Festival travel crush is *so* bad that people book tickets often as far in advance as they can. Without the government taking steps like it did later in the lock down, good luck seeing any money refunded.

[Zatheyll]

Another time, perhaps, but not Spring Festival.

Any big city in China is supported by a huge number of migrant workers, I have no reason to believe that Wuhan is any different. Many migrant workers bust their asses all year, and Spring Festival is the only chance they get to see parents, kids, and perhaps even their husband or wife. Beyond that, China may no longer practice ancestor worship, but there are still families who keep charts instead of tablets (I've shared the evening with students from time to time) and "Chinese New Year" is the time to remember family, especially the departed, and even more so the recently departed. In a sense, telling Chinese not to go home for Spring Festival is very close to telling someone from another country to not go home for a close relative's funeral. Those are just the cultural elements, which I'm guessing you know, but many others here probably don't.

Beyond that, the Spring Festival travel crush is *so* bad that people book tickets often as far in advance as they can. Without the government taking steps like it did later in the lock down, good luck seeing any money refunded.

Yeah a lot of that is why I don't like the freedom-restricting aspect of the lockdown, and even though it can and has helped an insane amount, it's hard to fully back it still. The lockdown is definitely the most effective way, especially seeing how far it's spread within Wuhan, but the social and psychological damage it has done to the people there must be insane.

[shadowmouse]

but the social and psychological damage it has done to the people

It will be rough, but at least among the ones I know best, Chinese women 25-39, there is also a sense of making the best of a bad situation. They don't want their parents in danger, they don't want their kid in danger. And as raw as not getting to do the usual Spring Festival stuff may be, it is worse for those who lose someone and won't even be able to hold a proper, traditional funeral.

[Falanca]

Flu season and coronavirus will create chaos in 3rd world countries. I hope they will find a vaccination soon!

[sabe]

Not having some proteins in your body makes you resistant to viruses.
SARS like corona virus needs ACE II protein and rs 3367 gene order. The number of people having this protein in China is like %40 while British and Usa is like %20, UAE %6, Greece %4, Turkey %3.
And having the protein along with the gene order lowers those numbers.
So, most 3rd world countries may survive better if not Asian. Don't know the percentage for India.
With resistant i mean; protein makes it easy for virus to enter cells, so if you don't have it, your body defence can destroy it before it enters a cell. It gives your body more time.
Of course weak immunity systems are another thing.
I don't know how different the novcorona reacts about proteins. Hope for the best.

[Muajin76]

If you don't want a lockdown, then don't be surprised when the virus spreads throughout the world and becomes endemic. One or the other, you can't easily have both.

It's also important to note: the people who left Wuhan didn't "flee the city". They were leaving anyways. Chinese New Year is the largest human migration on Earth. Three billion trips in a 40 day period. Those 5 million that left Wuhan before the lockdown already had their tickets and destinations in mind, many left Wuhan before many of you probably knew what the virus was.

I'm pretty sure you people leaving to escape being locked down. There were postings with pics of some *like that stupid rich girl in France eating at restaurant saying she was sick but managed to get out* bragging about it.

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Flu season and coronavirus will create chaos in 3rd world countries. I hope they will find a vaccination soon!

They are saying there won't be a CV vaccine until 2021

[Corvus]

Infections are now over 40,000 and deaths have surpassed SARS, now over 900.

[shadowmouse]

@Corvus Worse news is that there may be credible reports of the virus being kept secret in North Korea. https://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-s...jtc_news_index

One sure sign of the regime’s fears is that it failed to stage a parade in central Pyongyang on Saturday, the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the country’s armed forces.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

One sure sign of the regime’s fears is that it failed to stage a parade in central Pyongyang on Saturday, the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the country’s armed forces.

It saddens me to think that millions of people have been living under such a brutal regime for seventy years.

[sabe]

It saddens me to think that millions of people have been living under such a brutal regime for seventy years.

Yea and lets not forget the western powers for investing in such a country and making CCP stronger.
Just for more profit.

[Zatheyll]

I'm pretty sure you people leaving to escape being locked down. There were postings with pics of some *like that stupid rich girl in France eating at restaurant saying she was sick but managed to get out* bragging about it.(

She already had travel plans booked well in advance. She just didn't want her already planned trip ruined by the coronavirus. Of course she was an idiot, but she didn't "escape Wuhan". She legally left before it was shut down on a trip she had already planned, and didn't even have the coronavirus.

It saddens me to think that millions of people have been living under such a brutal regime for seventy years.

Please don't confuse China with North Korea. Lots of people do, but they are nowhere close to the same. Much of China's population fully realize they live in a country that lacks many personal freedoms, but their culture and way of life actually prefers that over the personal freedoms many in the West rely on. To a vast majority of people who live in China, their military and regime are not "brutal". Everyone lives their day to day lives, in some ways with many more freedoms than those in the West have, due to most laws in China not actually being enforced.

[xenogear3]

Yea and lets not forget the western powers for investing in such a country and making CCP stronger.
Just for more profit.

Chairman Xi gives away billions of dollars to foreign countries, but wouldn't spend any money to help his own people.
This is why foreign countries, including Trump, love the current Chinese government.

I heard BeiJing and Shanghai are in semi-lockdown.
Don't know how it works while people go back to work.

[Muajin76]

@Corvus Worse news is that there may be credible reports of the virus being kept secret in North Korea. https://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-s...jtc_news_index

Yep..and them parades are DAM important to them. They like to show off what toys they have to the rest of the world. For them to not hold that parade, something daaaam important must have gotten in the way.

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She already had travel plans booked well in advance. She just didn't want her already planned trip ruined by the coronavirus. Of course she was an idiot, but she didn't "escape Wuhan". She legally left before it was shut down on a trip she had already planned, and didn't even have the coronavirus.

Oh...that's how Chinese media portrayed her as anyway. Guess all the facts weren't presented, why should they be. It's her own business.

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Chairman Xi gives away billions of dollars to foreign countries, but wouldn't spend any money to help his own people.
This is why foreign countries, including Trump, love the current Chinese government.

I heard BeiJing and Shanghai are in semi-lockdown.
Don't know how it works while people go back to work.

Semi lock-down. I'm in the west area of beijing, they don't have anything like that. The only rules i heard about are 1 person can go out at a time, you have to show a special card that they give you. No gatherings of more than 3. *some hotels and most restaurants near me are closed* I'm sure some communities have similar rules. You can see guards / volunteers outside communities now requiring you to check in.

[Yunru]

I must say, china does a pretty good propaganda.

[Strawberry]

Honestly, though, that’s still a low number compared to those infected. And iirc, those dying are older and/or have weakened immune systems.

Not all who die are weak. Did the doc who tried to warn everyone have any immunity weaknesses or was old?

[Muajin76]

Hmm...so that cruise ship docked in Japan, that has 3,700 people. Japan health ministry won't test everyone on board, saying it's way too many people to test. I foresee this becoming a big problem for Japan. T.T
96 cases so far with the possibility of far more being infected.

[breadisfunny]

So...that canadian guy that pranked the plane and the 2 american teens that pranked walmart/causing 10k worth of damage. All 3 of them deserve to be injected with the coronavirus for real. let them suffer for their pranks.

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Do you know where in WI? I have family there, around central WI.

its in madison wisconsin.
(sorry for the delay found this pepper place was looking through their sauces and spices and then the site kept giving me a 503 error earlier.)

[Wilfire]

All the "progress" that's been made since 1945 turned out to be complete and utter drivel. None of the major countries or their leaders ever believed in the equality of races. A biological weapon that's fatal for one ethnicity in particular is magnitudes worse than any act of racism perpetrated during WW2. Racism is alive and well.