[HN Gopher] Coronavirus Lockdown [in Wuhan] Is a 'Living Hell'
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Coronavirus Lockdown [in Wuhan] Is a 'Living Hell'
Author : brundolf
Score : 61 points
Date : 2020-03-03 21:47 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.npr.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org)
| brundolf wrote:
| Despite the title, the heart of the article is really about a
| Wuhan man's disenchantment with his authoritarian government, by
| way of the Coronavirus crisis
| whatshisface wrote:
| It is not off the mark, if the CCP had been better about seeing
| the truth they could have eliminated the virus when only 100
| people had it. Instead they suppressed news of it while doing
| nothing, all while the virus ran around getting the better of
| them. It is too bad for the CCP that the Chinese people are not
| the only things in China to control!
| azurezyq wrote:
| And now CDC is doing the exact same thing in US by not
| testing extensively, even though they are aware of community
| spreads. My friends in Seattle area are in great fear.
| whatshisface wrote:
| This is certainly a wakeup call for anyone who thinks that
| the US federal bureaucracy is immune to dumb authoritarian
| tactics. Hopefully this will put a damper on all of those
| armchair dictators who say things like, "the null policy is
| still a policy and deserves just as much skepticism." If
| hospitals had not been prevented by the FDA from using
| their own machines to run tests, the CDC testing shortage
| would not have mattered.
| williw wrote:
| CDC botched the first test kits. There was no way to test
| anyway. Fortunately, FDA approved state developed test
| kits.
| davidw wrote:
| It still seems like they're way behind in testing
| compared to, say, Italy, which for a while at least was
| testing sick people and everyone they had come into
| contact with.
| other_herbert wrote:
| There's also the potluck dinner with what sounds like all of
| the city...
|
| https://www.ibtimes.sg/focus-wuhan-potluck-dinner-cpc-
| fires-...
|
| (midway down the article)
|
| I think we may not have even heard about the virus if not for
| this
|
| Edit: relevant portion:
|
| Ill-advised potluck dinner helped spread the virus
|
| Another major perceived lapse of the Wuhan party authorities
| was their decision to let a large public feast go ahead in
| January despite the fact that there were clear signs that an
| epidemic was gathering pace. The local government had
| controversially allowed nearly 40,000 families to gather and
| share food as part of the Chinese New Year festival even as
| deaths from the virus were increasing.
|
| It later turned out that at least 10 cases of coronavirus
| infection were reported from among the participants of the
| feast on January 18, raising fears that the event must have
| accelerated the spread of the infection in Wuhan.
| bakuninsbart wrote:
| Honest question though: Which country would handle it better?
|
| A commenter below mentioned the US, but the reaction here in
| Germany has also been ridiculously slow and very lacking in
| both the political department as well as healthcare
| officials.
|
| An overwhelming majority of NHS medics doesn't think the UK
| is prepared either. [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020
| /mar/02/coronavirus-...)
|
| Our lower population densities and much higher hygene
| standards make it less likely for a breakout to start here,
| but our dealing with a pandemic is at least as frighteningly
| incompetent as the chinese response.
| the-pigeon wrote:
| It just reads like an anti-Chinese propaganda piece.
|
| Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of Chinese people are very
| disenfranchised by their government. But a lot of them love it
| too. But western media always focuses on those that dislike it.
| Which is not a balanced perspective of their people.
| borkt wrote:
| Yeah, what is the point of a quarantine if they give you a
| warning and allow you to shop and leave the city? By very
| nature of his description it has worked as hoped.
| mosseater wrote:
| Of course it's hard living in Wuhan during this
| outbreak/pandemic. There are sacrifices to be made and they are
| the Wuhan residents. But this doesn't make China an evil
| authoritarian government mishandling the situation. China is
| doing the best it can to stop this outbreak where it stands. Yes
| that means quarantining the hot spot. Yes that means taking over
| dorms for room to quarantine people. Yes that means medical care
| at hospitals will be stretched extremely thin.
|
| But what is the alternative? Letting things run rampant because
| you didn't want to impose upon peoples human rights? The greater
| good of the whole population means more than the convenience of
| the Wuhan people. I just hope America falls in line.
|
| And yes, they didn't act immediately when they had patients in
| December. That could have been handled better. Hindsight is
| 20/20. But their mindset, about not wanting to start an
| unwarranted panic, about wanting to investigate things fully, is
| understandable.
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(page generated 2020-03-03 23:00 UTC)