Covid-19: How Has China Been Dealing with It?

Written by Frank Li

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China late last year, and has since caused tremendous damage to the country, not only economically, but also in human lives. However, it has been mostly contained and China is likely to end up as one of the best countries at handling Covid-19.

In this post, I will present three videos for public education, followed by a discussion.

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1. The search for a Covid-19 vaccine

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2. Covid-19 in China, South-Korea, Taiwan and Japan

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3. The Watcher: How does containing Covid-19 express the Chinese system?

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4. Discussion

Three basic questions and answers:

1. Did the Chinese government screw up initially in recognizing the virus and handling the situation? Yes, a little bit at least!
2. Could the Chinese government have prevented the virus from spreading to the rest of the world? No, not really! For example, thousands of foreigners lived in Wuhan at the time, with tens of thousands more living elsewhere in China. Many of them were eventually evacuated by their own governments, bringing the virus with them (Most New York Coronavirus Cases Came From Europe, Genomes Show).
3. Overall, did the Chinese government handle it well? Yes!

Below is China’s basic strategy in handling Covid-19:

1. Great testing for everybody, followed by quarantine and tracing.
2. Great protection of citizenry, especially the front-line workers (e.g. doctors and nurses) and essential workers (e.g. truckers and grocery store workers).
3. Accepting a significantly reduced economy, while waiting for better cure and vaccine.

The result speaks for itself. Here is a latest news story from China: Shanghai Disneyland to Reopen on May 11, Says CEO Bob Chapek.

4.1 Outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional

In a globalized world like ours, a virus anywhere is a virus everywhere. While worldwide efforts must be made consistent to prevent an outbreak from happening, it is the ability to handle an outbreak (e.g. preventing it from becoming a pandemic) that differentiates a great country from an average one. Two examples:

1. While about 40,000 Americans were evacuated from China, there were at least as many South Koreans evacuated as well. Furthermore, The first cases of Covid-19 were reported in the U.S and South Korea on the same day (January 20, 2020). But South Korea handled it quite differently from U.S., resulting in far low cases reported and deaths.
2. There were about one million Taiwanese living in the mainland. Most of them evacuated to Taiwan in January. But Taiwan handled it very well.

Two informative readings:

1. Outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional.
2. Covid-19: Manage It Better, Stop Finger-Pointing!

4.2 Covid-19’s origin

Of course, it is important to know Covid-19’s origin. But it must not be the focus of the Trump administration. Two informative readings:

1. China backs WHO investigating origin of Covid-19, hits out at US ‘politicising issue’.
2. France Discovers Undiagnosed Coronavirus Patient From Last-Year. Below is an excerpt.

A patient hospitalized with flu-like symptoms at the end of December in France turned out to have had Covid-19, a finding that suggests the new coronavirus was spreading there at least a month earlier than official records show.

The 42-year-old fishmonger showed up at a hospital near Paris on Dec. 27 with a cough, headache and fever and was treated with antibiotics and discharged after two days. Doctors found he had Covid-19 by retroactively testing his respiratory samples along with those from a handful of hospitalized patients, describing their work in a case report.

4.3 Summary

Three highlights of China:

1. China is an old country, with a lot of people living there. Unfortunately, viruses tend to break out in a country with high human population density.
2. China is one of the greatest civilizations in human history, with very advanced governance and culture. For more, read: Governance in China: Past, Present, and Future.
3. China is technologically very advanced. For example, massive surveillance is a huge feature (not a bug) and cashless is something America can only dream about. Both have played significant roles in containing Covid-19!

Bottom line: Covid-19 will prove to be the most significant event since WWII. China will prove, once again, that its government is the most effective in the world, by coming out of this crisis in the best shape, guaranteed!

For more, read: The U.S. vs. China: A Great Experiment vs. A Great Civilization!

5. Closing

America, learn from China, instead of nit-picking!

America, reform our failing political system, as I have suggested (American Democracy – Why is it failing & how to fix it?), or become a fiddle, second to China!