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As China rows back COVID curbs, virus fears spread

15 Comments
By Bernard Orr and Ella Cao

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Three things to consider;

China has to be honest with its people about Covid inevitably becoming endemic and something they have to live with. That will require being honest with stats.

And, people have a zero-risk bias, and the government has to counteract that by saying we always will have the Covid risk. A big mistake right now would be to say Omicron is harmless and we are okay, but that's what they are currently doing saying Omicron is "weak" to save face

Also, the timing of the relaxation of measures presents a challenge.  It is especially worrying that China is opening up during winter, when the virus is more likely to spread more rapidly.

Painful as it is, we all can't ignore these points.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Totally bought this upcoming chaos upon themselves. They've lied about infection numbers. They've lied about deaths. The PRC will of course quash any unrest that occurs and Xi will remain in power, but I honeslty hope this is a full on disaster for the PRC.

They have failed their own people at every level from day one. They have failed the rest of the world.

Should have bought vaccines from the West.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Totally bought this upcoming chaos upon themselves. They've lied about infection numbers. They've lied about deaths. The PRC will of course quash any unrest that occurs and Xi will remain in power, but I honeslty hope this is a full on disaster for the PRC. 

They have failed their own people at every level from day one. They have failed the rest of the world. 

Should have bought vaccines from the West.

Indeed and to faux champion such an approach (not you Resident) is despicable.

But well done China. With your hoky numbers and police state tactics you saved plenty of face.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

People here should think more about our health and well-being, and not indulge too much in ideology and politics. So far China has avoid having over a million deaths and has one of the lowest Covid death rates in the world. In the beginning if all the countries followed China and locked down, the virus would have eradicated long ago. Now we have to live with the virus and suffer the long-term effects. Our immune systems have been compromised and we started to get sick easier. Our life spans are shortened and we don’t even realize it. As the virus mutated it becomes less potent, so in the long run Chinese people will be able to live longer and healthier. Think about that.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

So far China has avoid having over a million deaths and has one of the lowest Covid death rates in the world.

Says China. But their numbers may as well be fiction, as they have proven over the years that accuracy in reporting isn't as important to them as making China look good.

You don't actually believe China's professed numbers, do you?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It’s always been a sticky point, isn’t it? Propaganda that says China can’t be trusted and their numbers are inaccurate, it’s all bogus. You have to know one thing, their Covid controls are pretty tight as confirmed by everybody. If there were wild-spread deaths, people here would hear about it. Remember about a single child death of Covid in China that covered in the Western media, you would have kicked yourself if there were not more of that. Believe me the Western media are trying to find more cases, but they can’t and they are very sulk about it.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Four cameras in just a single photo on the top draw my attention...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

flowersToday  03:19 am JST

It’s always been a sticky point, isn’t it? Propaganda that says China can’t be trusted and their numbers are inaccurate, it’s all bogus. You have to know one thing, their Covid controls are pretty tight as confirmed by everybody. If there were wild-spread deaths, people here would hear about it. Remember about a single child death of Covid in China that covered in the Western media, you would have kicked yourself if there were not more of that. Believe me the Western media are trying to find more cases, but they can’t and they are very sulk about it.

Excellent points.

The irony, many countries in the West had some of the highest infection and deaths rates in the world, such as the US and the UK.

Australia and New Zealand also had zooming infection and death rates this year, according to indisputable government statistics.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

How many millions died from covid and prison-like lockins?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It’s always been a sticky point, isn’t it? Propaganda that says China can’t be trusted and their numbers are inaccurate, it’s all bogus.

What evidence do you have to contradict the own Chinese experts that have said the systematic underreporting of deaths is a problem? the reports that show examples of people suddenly becoming covid negative the moment they die? If your only argument against this evidence is that you don't want to believe it then you have no argument at all.

The irony, many countries in the West had some of the highest infection and deaths rates in the world, such as the US and the UK.

And also some countries that have done better with excellent control of the pandemic without lockdowns, which is the whole point.

Australia and New Zealand also had zooming infection and death rates this year, according to indisputable government statistics.

When you have to use the worst examples you can find to justify the Chinese policy you make it clear that the best examples (for example Sweden, that you have recognized did much better than China) clearly disproves the claim that the lockdowns were the best way to deal with the pandemic, as easy to prove as there are no global level experts that support this.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

What evidence do you have to contradict the own Chinese experts that have said the systematic underreporting of deaths is a problem? the reports that show examples of people suddenly becoming covid negative the moment they die? If your only argument against this evidence is that you don't want to believe it then you have no argument at all.

This hardly constitutes a logical argument--just based on unsubstantiated claims plucked out of the blue.

And also some countries that have done better with excellent control of the pandemic without lockdowns, which is the whole point.

No, not according to the experts. Especially New Zealand, which saw infection and death rates skyrocket after they eased lockdown restrictions.

When you have to use the worst examples you can find to justify the Chinese policy you make it clear that the best examples (for example Sweden, that you have recognized did much better than China) clearly disproves the claim that the lockdowns were the best way to deal with the pandemic, as easy to prove as there are no global level experts that support this.

Your belief in Sweden as the model for a Covid strategy is countered sharply by the experts: Anyone looking up to Sweden at this stage as a country that did "well" with its Covid response is not relying on the science.

Scathing evaluation of Sweden's COVID response reveals 'failures' to control the virus

As a result, Sweden had a higher COVID death rate than the surrounding Nordic nations.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/scathing-evaluation-swedens-covid-response-reveals-failures-control/story?id=83644832

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Xi cutting back on his covid zero failures.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I fear this is just China putting out 1 thing for internation press and doing something completely different internally. The world wants to believe China, but we've been lied to many, many, many, many, times by the CCP.

I'll be hopeful it is true this time, but won't be surprised when we find that 20,000+ people were quarantined who happened to be protestors with no covid at all.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This hardly constitutes a logical argument--just based on unsubstantiated claims plucked out of the blue.

This is well reported and the Chinese experts named so your claim that this is unsubstantiated are clearly false, if you do not have evidence that disprove these reports there is nothing illogical in considering them an argument.

No, not according to the experts. Especially New Zealand, which saw infection and death rates skyrocket after they eased lockdown restrictions.

Still false as every time you try to make this empty appeal to authority, the increase came many months after the restrictions were eased and just after omicron entered the country, this of course also happened in China, so unless you claim that China revoked the zero covid policy in february this year this claim of yourse is also false.

Your belief in Sweden as the model for a Covid strategy is countered sharply by the experts

It is not my belief, it is yours, you were the one saying that Sweden made excellent points by refusing the counterproductive lockdowns that caused more damage than what they prevent.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/more-kids-showing-signs-of-premature-aging#comment-3257354

So you are accusing yourself of being antiscientific.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

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