Buddy Bradley
Pantheistic solipsist
Looks about the same size as the "rooms" in a CitizenM hotel.
Coronavirus - worldwide breaking news, discussion, stats, updates and more
- Thread starter weltweit
- Start date
Looks about the same size as the "rooms" in a CitizenM hotel.
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
UK prison cell sized just about
as a side note:
most prisonners in the Uk have been on 23 hours a day [actual] lockdowns for the duration over the past 2 years.
Serious psychological damage right there.
Yossarian
⏭️
I don't think Beijing knows any more about omicron than we do, but they've crushed dissent so thoroughly that authorities can pursue a zero COVID strategy at all costs without fear of repurcussions.
Many officials now believe that they must do everything within their power to ensure zero Covid infections since it is the will of their top leader, Xi Jinping. For the officials, virus control comes first. The people’s lives, well-being and dignity come much later.
The government has the help of a vast army of community workers who carry out the policy with zeal and hordes of online nationalists who attack anyone raising grievances or concerns.
The Army of Millions Who Enforce China’s Zero-Covid Policy, at All Costs (Published 2022)
As the troubled lockdown in Xi’an has shown, many Chinese people remain willing to work diligently toward the government’s goal of eliminating the virus, no matter the consequences.
Combustible
Well-Known Member
Bizarre framing as usual from US coverage of covid in China, talking about virus control being put above people's lives, when not controlling the virus inevitably, even in the presence of mass vaccination leads to signifcantly more illness and death. Why would there be any significant dissent against a zero-Covid policy when the consequences of having Covid spread in other countries has been plain to see. Although it does neatly align with the argument from the state press that western style democracy is incapable of implementing the necessary Covid elimination strategies (which ignores the examples of democracies which did follow such a strategy).
Yossarian
⏭️
This could apply to every country, tbf.
China is pursuing its current COVID policy because it's a totalitarian state and it can get away with it - no country where the leaders had to worry about being elected would impose a total lockdown overnight on a city of 14 million people and tightly censor criticism.
Where Western countries might have gone wrong early in the pandemic is trying to bring in Wuhan-style lockdowns without the apparatus of dictatorship - it's a shame the press at the time wasn't taking a more critical look at the response of the Chinese state instead of gushing about how fast they built a prefab hospital.
Last edited:
Combustible
Well-Known Member
You'd hope so, but as much as governments have sometimes used it as an excuse, it's not on the whole been public opposition which has prevented governments putting in stricter measures, and often public opinion has overwhelming supported stricter measures than what governments have been willing to introduce. And AFAIK in countries like New Zealand that abandoned zero covid policies, it wasn't particularly a result of public opposition.
Yossarian
⏭️
A better comparison might be Taiwan, where they've pursued a zero COVID strategy without the unaccountable brutality of the mainland government - I think the place that will have longer-term success in controlling COVID is the one where people aren't terrified of their government.
_Russ_
Never not Knowingly Misunderstood
I honestly can't see the correlation, could you give some example regimes?
Raheem
Well-Known Member
I don't have an overall picture of how things have gone in Taiwan, but I think early on they were sealing people into their homes.
ice-is-forming
With dignified ease and grace..
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
Just saw this fb post from Trudeau
Several of the comments are that the government can not force them to take the vaccine - well d'uh...
Several of the comments are that the government can not force them to take the vaccine - well d'uh...
Yossarian
⏭️
That only happened in mainland China, AFAIK - maybe you saw a story from Taiwanese media, which reports more openly on developments on the mainland?
Videos show Chinese authorities locking people inside their homes as Delta surges | Taiwan News | 2021-08-10 13:06:00
Footage alleges Chinese locked inside homes if they test positive for COVID, violate quarantine | 2021-08-10 13:06:00
www.taiwannews.com.tw
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
Seen this. It would be great if it's true, but I have my doubts.
spanishnewstoday.com
<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - AntiCovid chewing gum to hit the market in Spain
<span Style='color:#780948'>archived</span> - Anticovid Chewing Gum To Hit The Market In Spain Keep up with the Latest News In English from around Spain
spanishnewstoday.com
Yossarian
⏭️
Beyond Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are also democratic countries that have seen very high levels of compliance with public health measures.
While China also has very high levels of compliance, I think extreme measures like locking down entire cities for weeks so tightly that people are having trouble getting food is likely to make at least a few people so terrified of the consequences of testing positive that they will either ignore their symptoms or persuade themselves that they couldn't possibly be infected.
Chinese authorities seem to be in denial themselves - there's an omicron outbreak in Tianjin, 80 miles from Beijing and less than 30 minutes away by train, but authorities are claiming a case of omicron detected in Beijing must have come from the surface of a package that was sent from Toronto and passed through the US and Hong Kong in its four-day journey to China.
teqniq
DisMembered
Wow:
www.vice.com
Students Are Doing What Adults Won’t in the Fight Against Omicron
Thousands of students are walking out of class to protest conditions at U.S. schools—and challenge adults who are placing profit over their well-being.
www.vice.com
Yossarian
⏭️
In Hong Kong, they're culling thousands of hamsters - after a woman who works in a pet shop tested positive for delta and they couldn't find a human source, they tested the hamsters and 11 came back positive.
Seems just as likely that delta was circulating undetected and the woman infected the hamsters, guess we will find out in the weeks to come.
www.scmp.com
Seems just as likely that delta was circulating undetected and the woman infected the hamsters, guess we will find out in the weeks to come.
Hong Kong culls hamsters over Covid-19 fears, pet store customers in quarantine
Two people tied to Little Boss pet shop confirmed as infected and 150 customers ordered into quarantine.
www.scmp.com
prunus
Tick tock.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
A bit of a derail but I wonder whether covid might help put into perspective some of the other threats and how seriously we should take them:
www.theguardian.com
There seem to be relatively easy things that can be done with that though - stop force feeding animals with antibiotics in the US particularly, for example.
Antimicrobial resistance now a leading cause of death worldwide, study finds
Lancet analysis highlights need for urgent action to address antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections
There seem to be relatively easy things that can be done with that though - stop force feeding animals with antibiotics in the US particularly, for example.
Yossarian
⏭️
New China virus: Cases triple as infection spreads to Beijing and Shanghai
This comes as China confirms that a new strain of coronavirus can pass from person to person.www.bbc.co.uk
Bit scary, new virus which seems to have started in China seems very infectious and might be spreading.
This thread started with this post two years ago today - feels like a fuck of a lot longer.
20Bees
Well-Known Member
23 January 2020 my son messaged from China to say they were fine, nervously following the news, but that 400 people had already flown into their city from Wuhan for the Chinese New Year holidays.
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
... wrong quote ...
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
I hate you!!!New China virus: Cases triple as infection spreads to Beijing and Shanghai
This comes as China confirms that a new strain of coronavirus can pass from person to person.www.bbc.co.uk
Bit scary, new virus which seems to have started in China seems very infectious and might be spreading.
thought I had some news in the last couple of days and got really worried for a short while
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
According to several articles, Chinese social media hates Canada.
They claim we sent them covid-infected mail.
They claim we sent them covid-infected mail.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Mostly thats as a result of the latest evolution of their propaganda which has sought to blame other countries for Covid. A new variant of the propaganda they've used to deflect away from their role in the pandemic arriving in the first place.According to several articles, Chinese social media hates Canada.
They claim we sent them covid-infected mail.
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
I think it may have more to do with us holding a Chinese CFO(?) for several years while the US decided whether or not to extradite her.
On that count, I agree with them.
