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The timing is somewhat convenient... as was the case last year, the virus is hitting right as CNY does, when most of the country is about to shut down to some extent, anyways. It's part of the culture, and everyone prepares for a period of no work, no school, low or no pay, etc.; it's a lot easier to manage when your economy already deliberately slows down every year at this time.
If they are going to start handling things again, now is a better time than any other.
Realistically, during the CNY there will be less economic activity, but before and after the CNY there will be a ton of travelling. It's the same with Thanksgiving in the US and Christmas in Europe and North America. There is always a huge spike of cases after the holiday seasons, which is now. The situation in America, Britain, Germany etc. is worse than ever as nobody gave two ****s about quarantine during Christmas time.
Realistically, during the CNY there will be less economic activity, but before and after the CNY there will be a ton of travelling. It's the same with Thanksgiving in the US and Christmas in Europe and North America. There is always a huge spike of cases after the holiday seasons, which is now. The situation in America, Britain, Germany etc. is worse than ever as nobody gave two ****s about quarantine during Christmas time.
It will have an impact - in 2020 it started to explode globally in 2020 during and after Chinese New Year, as tons of infected Chinese were traveling on vacation as well - to Europe and the US (although the US had some restrictions).
It's ironic that this will likely backfire in 2021 on China as their global travelers will return with the virus from infected Europeans and Americans and, once again, see a resurgence in China. China's benefit (if you want to call lack of civil rights a benefit) is, as a totalitarian government, they can be much more draconian in it's approach in preventing resurgence.
China definitely didn't test everyone in any city... they say as much, but I know people who were in Wuhan who were never tested. I know people from Qingdao who similarly were not tested and don't know many people who were. It's mostly PR.
I do wish that the US had some sort of sensible testing in place; it'd make it easier to move back, for sure. It'll be part of Trump's legacy as the worst president in US history which I suppose is nice, though it won't undo the damage.
it's not PR, the way china do massive test is completely different than western countries. Here we simply test a individual sample and see if it's positive or negative. In china, they first mix all the samples within a building or community, and then test the it as one sample.
If the combined sample comes back negative, that means the entire building/community is free of the virus, even if one or two who reside in the building/community that was not tested, when the 99% of the population who share common areas within a building/community is negative, one can assume that the building/community is virus free
if the combined sample comes back positive, then the building/community will be on more severe lockdown and then everyone is tested again to find the individuals that are positive.
it's another thing that seems to be common sense (to someone that has a science degree anyways) that no western countries seems to do/care to do.
it's not PR, the way china do massive test is completely different than western countries. Here we simply test a individual sample and see if it's positive or negative. In china, they first mix all the samples within a building or community, and then test the it as one sample.
If the combined sample comes back negative, that means the entire building/community is free of the virus, even if one or two who reside in the building/community that was not tested, when the 99% of the population who share common areas within a building/community is negative, one can assume that the building/community is virus free
if the combined sample comes back positive, then the building/community will be on more severe lockdown and then everyone is tested again to find the individuals that are positive.
it's another thing that seems to be common sense (to someone that has a science degree anyways) that no western countries seems to do/care to do.
It has to do with the way mask wearing is treated in Asia vs Western countries. Many Asians were already accustomed to wearing masks due to the high levels of pollution found in their cities. The COVID situation was therefore just a natural extension of that. I’d say, that’s one of the main reasons why Eastern Asian countries have relatively low numbers.
It has to do with the way mask wearing is treated in Asia vs Western countries. Many Asians were already accustomed to wearing masks due to the high levels of pollution found in their cities. The COVID situation was therefore just a natural extension of that. I’d say, that’s one of the main reasons why Eastern Asian countries have relatively low numbers.
It is true to some extent, but I would like to point out that most people in China actually had never worn masks before the pandemic. My parents started to wear masks regularly first time in their life.
However, it is true that wearing masks was more acceptable and natural. Fearing the virus was not a shame.
It has to do with the way mask wearing is treated in Asia vs Western countries. Many Asians were already accustomed to wearing masks due to the high levels of pollution found in their cities. The COVID situation was therefore just a natural extension of that. I’d say, that’s one of the main reasons why Eastern Asian countries have relatively low numbers.
look, they wear masks, but we have way less population density and way less public transits. so it evens out. It's that we never really "lock down".
look back what happened in last year during the early days of covid, the majority of the cases are in new york. we ban the flight from china, but the new yorkers were free to bring the virus to the whole country. We would not be in this mess had we truly lock down new york, not letting any one traveling in and out for 3 weeks or so. ("declaring war on new york", remember that?).
look, they wear masks, but we have way less population density and way less public transits. so it evens out. It's that we never really "lock down".
look back what happened in last year during the early days of covid, the majority of the cases are in new york. we ban the flight from china, but the new yorkers were free to bring the virus to the whole country. We would not be in this mess had we truly lock down new york, not letting any one traveling in and out for 3 weeks or so. ("declaring war on new york", remember that?).
it's really simple
It is also about proactivity. China locked down a city when they found around 10 domestic cases. Countries like UK waited till they had 50,000 cases per day before they locked down.
They are actually quite open about it in my home country Norway. The politicans say they don't want to lock down too early, because they don't want to damage the economy and social relations unless it is really necessary. Due to this thinking, the restrictions have kept getting stricter and right now you can't even meet up with family member anymore.
China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan do not seem to think that way, they react when they notice any uncontrolled spread to prevent it from spreading in the first place. They believe it is better to take the economic hit now, so that they can live free later.
It is also about proactivity. China locked down a city when they found around 10 domestic cases. Countries like UK waited till they had 50,000 cases per day before they locked down.
They are actually quite open about it in my home country Norway. The politicans say they don't want to lock down too early, because they don't want to damage the economy and social relations unless it is really necessary. Due to this thinking, the restrictions have kept getting stricter and right now you can't even meet up with family member anymore.
China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan do not seem to think that way, they react when they notice any uncontrolled spread to prevent it from spreading in the first place. They believe it is better to take the economic hit now, so that they can live free later.
the "locked down" is totally different. in china, "locked down" means all the entrance/exit to a community are sealed except for one single one way in and out. all the food supplies are delivered by people with full ppe. They are doing that in a few hebei communities now. I mean, pay the price of enduring 14 to 21 days of "captivity", life will go back to normal soon again.
instead, we rather just do our own "locked down", where people are still free to go out and about, then we will never get back to normal.
It has to do with the way mask wearing is treated in Asia vs Western countries. Many Asians were already accustomed to wearing masks due to the high levels of pollution found in their cities. The COVID situation was therefore just a natural extension of that. I’d say, that’s one of the main reasons why Eastern Asian countries have relatively low numbers.
The Japanese had the highest usage of masks before 2020. Not all Japanese people used masks, but wearing masks in both flu seasons and normal times in Japan do not attract attention.The practice has long been accepted and well understood in Japan. Less common but still easily seen, masks are also used by people in other parts of east and southeast Asia. Flu has become less common in places where masks are widely used . In mainland China and Taiwan, masks were and are more commonly used by younger people than the elderly. They can be fashionable.
Right now, the situation in Japan isn't too good because the policies are not very strict. But still better than developed countries in the Americas and Europe.
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