So an old friend living in Seattle emailed me this link of the exhausted and fresh off the plane from China Canadian epidemiologist sent with his team to study exactly what the Chinese Government has done to achieve the dramatic reduction in COVID cases they are now experiencing.
He wrote:
Chinese communism is embedded well. The people are eagerly supporting the national directives on COVID-19 containment and remediation. This is an area where Western Democracy is much weaker; too much concern about personal freedoms when we need to pull together. This is not a government plot to scale back our liberties; it's a rational response to a pandemic. This is Bruce Aylward, Canadian WHO doctor who just came back from China. Just off the plane, and sleep deprived. Start at minute 9:00 to skip introductory
remarks.
I found this informative and fascinating and I urge you to listen. I realize now that this was recorded about 3 weeks ago; I initially thought this was fresh stuff. but still worth the watching if you haven’t seen it.
The comment thread that comes along with this is somewhat dismaying, but maybe I just don’t get around enough any more.
And then there are the politico/cultural implications as the Western paradigm of personal individual freedom and autonomy bumps into a 5000 year old cohesive (and not especially diverse) culture.
Say what you will about China, but they got shit done, and were prepared for it. Pay special attention to Dr. Aylward as he describes in great detail just what China was able to accomplish. He is summarizing the report his team made to WHO, which he turned in to them that same morning.
This being from 3 weeks ago, I suspect we have already been seeing some of this information being put to use here, and worldwide.