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I've been tracking this for a few days now. It started out as a new flu going around one city in China- Wuhan.
Now, as of this morning China has "quarantined" three cities .... one with a pop of around 11 million, one with around 7.5 million, and one with a pop of almost 1 million. And now this
zerohedge @zerohedge 39m39 minutes ago
U.S. SAYS TRAVELERS SHOULD RECONSIDER TRAVEL TO CHINA Is this because of the 20 million people quarantined due to a deadly viral epidemic
I think it is much much worse than we are being told.
Confirmed cases in Mainland China, HK, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the US.
It has been know in Asia since December. The first patients came from a market in Wuhan. It is a top news every day in east Asia, Singapore and Thailand but not cared by most people not in or near east Asia.
Described as similar to SARS and MERS. China and South Korea experienced large outbreaks in the past and successfully ended them.
Many cities are cancelling most large lunar new year celebrations.
East Asian countries are on high alert because it is now the busy lunar new year travel period.
A small number of confirmed patients do not have fever, these may not be detected at airports, stations and borders.
It is now interesting to see increasing non Asian people wearing masks in East Asia.
I thought most westerners don't learn local practices in Asia.
Wearing masks by the public has been more common in Asia than other continents. Most non Asian people in Asia don't follow this practice. It is not correct to say Asians are not hygienic. Asia has experience SARS, Pig flu and MERS. Masks should be worn to control the spread of diseases, not to hide faces when damaging shops and attacking police and civilians after protests.
Ugh I am very concerned. We travel to Asia in late February and will be in Shanghai, throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Taipei.
If face masks is a decent measure, will gladly wear those. If we have to cancel the trip that would be hugely problematic...
It is now interesting to see increasing non Asian people wearing masks in East Asia.
I thought most westerners don't learn local practices in Asia.
Wearing masks by the public has been more common in Asia than other continents. Most non Asian people in Asia don't follow this practice. It is not correct to say Asians are not hygienic. Asia has experience SARS, Pig flu and MERS. Masks should be worn to control the spread of diseases, not to hide faces when damaging shops and attacking police and civilians after protests.
... Why wouldn't we, when there's a pandemic? Wearing one when there's no dangerous illness going around is silly and overkill, but when you can contract a strong virus from having someone in a crowded area cough near you, it makes sense.
We bought masks a few days ago and have been wearing them when out, but are spending most of our days inside for the time being (luckily it's CNY so everything is closed anyways). About half the people on the streets in SZ are wearing them. We scrapped plans to go back to Hunan for Spring Festival and are glad we did, since my wife's hometown is relatively close to Wuhan and many Wuhan residents are going there for the festival and no real hospital.
As far as Asians not being hygienic, that's of course not true. However, Asia isn't China, and people in China absolutely do not have the habit of covering their mouth or nose when coughing or sneezing to the extent that other nations do. Most public bathrooms don't have soap or paper towels (you have to go to an upscale shopping center where there's am attendant to make sure no one steals it). The main reason that China has these outbreaks - as you mentioned, SARS, MERS, avian flu, swine flu - is because sanitation and hygiene here is dismal outside of the urban cores and there are still lots of people who like to eat bushmeat, snake, frog, bats, any wildlife that seems "exotic," up to and including their neighbor's dog.
Many people here are proud of the fact that you go to a semi-outdoor wet market in China and they have all the meat out there in the open, exposed to the elements, handled with bare hands by shopkeepers and left out on meat hooks or tile for hours and hours with flies buzzing around, washing all the blood, fat and grease down open gutters with hoses like you're in an abbatoir. "This way you know it's real meat!" or "it helps build you immune system" with no sense of irony as they walk around hacking and wearing face masks, and the government culls a quarter million pigs causing meat prices to soar.
In addition to all the harassments and bullying and air pollution, they also export deadly viruses, for free AND for the 2nd time. China should totally win Neighbour of the Year!
A major city is currently under lockdown. What a ****ing mess of a country lmao.
Expected usual China bashing from some people. Motives well understood as we seldom heard Mexico and Africa were blamed in the past epidemics. First HIV cases in Asia were probably imported by westerners, not Africans. You will also hear Europeans exported new diseases killing many native Americans and Pacific Islanders, taking their lands at the same time. Europeans exported opiums, got angry when China banned opium import, waged wars against Qing Empire . A British sailor harassed women and killed someone on the Chinese coast while being drunk, the Old Summer Palaces burnt down by British and French. When the Japanese express dissatisfaction about the Chinese. The Chinese always react by "The crimes of the Japanese invading China were a million times more bad, the massacres, the looting, the use of humans in deadly experiments , the use of bacterial weapons are more bad and serious than some behaviours of the Chinese which are not serious crimes. " All the hate between countries have exist since civilisations exist.
No it is not worst for consumers, it is only worst for the Canadian producers.
This virus currently has less serious health effects than SARS.
Not to say they are right or wrong, with weaker respiratory systems, old people don't react much to the outbreak. Smokers are a different type of people, already risking their health from the time they started smoking and are a nuisance to non smokers and waste of tax payers' money to treat their smoke related illnesses. The outbreak is not regarded as dangerous to them. The young and the health conscious people are the most paranoid in outbreaks.
Some Japanese people resent foreigners laughing at them because Japanese wear masks are more common than other countries. Japanese wear masks in every flu season in winter and many also wear in hot summer. Northern Chinese and Koreans wear because of sand storms. There are some arrogant foreigners living in Asian countries. Covering noses and mouths is not effective in preventing spread of illness comparing with wearing masks. The practice also contaminate hands and patients can spread illness when they touch objects before other people also touch them. That's why buttons, door handles and handrails are frequently cleaned by cleaners even without current pandemics. This is common since SARS. There is even a pouring diluted bleach practice to drainage suggested by health authority since 2003 because illness spreaded in vertical buildings by the sewage pipes.
Expected usual China bashing from some people. Motives well understood as we seldom heard Mexico and Africa were blamed in the past epidemics.
Ebola? Also, there have been people who have blamed Latin immigrants into the US for illnesses (unfounded and not a widespread belief). I don't think any rational person is going to blame Chinese people abroad for this or avoid going to Chinese-owned businesses for fears do getting sick. Point remains that China has a higher than average number of very dangerous epidemics than other nations.
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First HIV cases in Asia were probably imported by westerners, not Africans. You will also hear Europeans exported new diseases killing many native Americans and Pacific Islanders, taking their lands at the same time. Europeans exported opiums, got angry when China banned opium import, waged wars against Qing Empire . A British sailor harassed women and killed someone on the Chinese coast while being drunk, the Old Summer Palaces burnt down by British and French. When the Japanese express dissatisfaction about the Chinese. The Chinese always react by "The crimes of the Japanese invading China were a million times more bad, the massacres, the looting, the use of humans in deadly experiments , the use of bacterial weapons are more bad and serious than some behaviours of the Chinese which are not serious crimes. " All the hate between countries have exist since civilisations exist.
None of these past misdeeds by foreign nations against China have anything to do with its current lagging behind in sanitation and hygiene, which anyone who's set foot in China knows. Whataboutism is pointless and there's no clear "let's compare China to other countries" element in the initial question, I'm avoiding doing so. To this end, I'm simply looking at the fact that under current administration, China has stopped working towards any real social progress and started building up it's military and working towards classic strongman achievements relating to security and the military despite the fact that it wasn't facing any real external or substantial internal threats. If anything, this has galvanized foreign powers against it... Meanwhile, much of China has the same level of sanitation and hygiene that other countries had 100 years ago. But, officially, it has defeated poverty so yay! Case closed, nothing else to see here, folks. Look at that aircraft carrier!
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No it is not worst for consumers, it is only worst for the Canadian producers.
This is a common thing you hear people say - "it hurts producers more than consumers" - but I dont see the Canadian or American an economies taking as big a hit as the Chinese economy. Those pork imports wouldn't have had much of an effect for most people anyways, as the imported pork would have been much, much higher than domestic, meaning all those village ayis wouldn't have been able to afford it anyways.
I buy imported meats wholesale and a 1kg pack of American pork was at least double domestic pork before this fracas, wholesale. A pack of American sausages at the import shop next to where I live is 85 rmb retail; a comparable quantity of local ones would be about 25.
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This virus currently has less serious health effects than SARS.
That's certainly the hope, though I did read that the spread is more aggressive than initially thought and the government is still being fairly opaque on many matters around the virus, according to the WHO. I don't think it's any worse than SARS, certainly.
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Not to say they are right or wrong, with weaker respiratory systems, old people don't react much to the outbreak. Smokers are a different type of people, already risking their health from the time they started smoking and are a nuisance to non smokers and waste of tax payers' money to treat their smoke related illnesses. The outbreak is not regarded as dangerous to them. The young and the health conscious people are the most paranoid in outbreaks.
Old people are set in their ways and have been through a lot and are more likely to disregard new information, which is part of the issue China faces outright: old people who survived China's last round of transgressions against itself who have habits that aren't easily compatible with modern society and life.
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Some Japanese people resent foreigners laughing at them because Japanese wear masks are more common than other countries. Japanese wear masks in every flu season in winter and many also wear in hot summer. Northern Chinese and Koreans wear because of sand storms. There are some arrogant foreigners living in Asian countries. Covering noses and mouths is not effective in preventing spread of illness comparing with wearing masks. The practice also contaminate hands and patients can spread illness when they touch objects before other people also touch them. That's why buttons, door handles and handrails are frequently cleaned by cleaners even without current pandemics. This is common since SARS. There is even a pouring diluted bleach practice to drainage suggested by health authority since 2003 because illness spreaded in vertical buildings by the sewage pipes.
It's not polite to laugh at people wearing face masks during flu season in Asia but I dont know many people who do, honestly. You can always find people who will make issues where there are none, which is what you're doing here. Most foreigners living in Asia just roll with it, even if they don't practice the same. The things they make more fun of are refusing to wash socks or underwear in the washing machine (usually after they are with a Chinese partner who throws a tantrum when they find out the foreigner does this), the obsession with hot water even in summer time, and fear of air conditioning even when it's 40 degrees out.
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