Posted on 02/02/2020 4:25:00 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The Chinese government’s response to the coronavirus demonstrates the vast powers accorded to it under its authoritarian structure. Tens of millions of Chinese citizens — an astonishing number of people — in and around the central city of Wuhan are under physical quarantine, barred from leaving. Imagine attempting that in a democratic country. The deadly, pneumonia-like ailment that is spreading rapidly across the world emerged from Wuhan, apparently from a market where wild and domesticated animals are slaughtered on site.
After the physical quarantine came the information quarantine. Late last week, I received a message over WeChat, the Chinese chat app, from a friend in Beijing. He told me that China has blocked Virtual Private Networks, the unofficially tolerated apps that allow users to bypass the so-called Great Firewall, which blocks content that’s unfriendly to the government. And he wanted to know: What’s going on with coronavirus? How many cases are there? Think of the absurdity of the situation: A person in China asking me, some 6,000 miles away, what’s actually going on there.
How serious is the coronavirus? Well, let’s look at what the economists call the “revealed preference” — the actions people take regardless of what they say or perhaps even think. One must be wary of accepting the Chinese government’s statistics about the spread of the virus. Honesty is not its strong suit. But the Chinese government’s revealed preference — what it’s actually doing, rather than saying — suggests that coronavirus is very, very serious indeed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
You are welcome.
Clearly children would not be going to school in a pandemic scenario, so schools could easily be turned into staging areas with the appropriate medical equipment brought in...
I use N-95s for sanding fiberglass on my project boat. I was getting low on the filters and figured I had better order some more (Amazon). That was a week ago. I traced the package and it went from California to NY, back to CA, back to NY and went through customs and then went to Illinois. I am in Oregon.
“The CDC has a backdoor that they have been using to get a better idea of what is going on in China. They read the chat sites popular with China’s taxi drivers”.
That’s very interesting. Those taxi drivers would tell it like it is.
I wonder why it went back and forth like that. I am in Colo. and have tracked Amazon orders and where they went to and from made no sense, either.
The analyst I heard also suggested sports arenas.
They are building a prison for infected people. Every window has bars to prevent any escape
It would benefit the US long term, but there would be a painful transition. It took ~20 years to offshore to China, moving production back will take years, if not decades.
I believe it
Except you have to disinfect those afterwards. China has said they will be using the prefabs as hospitals and burning them down afterwards for easy decontamination.
Our own government has similar plans on the books, though we would usually use military tents.
They’re worried about what they’d have to do AFTER? Have you seen the videos of the crowds in the Chinese hospitals?
It seems to me that the fastest, most immediate way to provide care would be most in the interest of the suffering people.
But I don’t believe that the ChiComs are really interested in their people - they’re interested in saving face and continuing in power, after this enormous FUBAR.
Heck. They have whole empty cities.
The Chinese regular hospitals are pretty badly equipped to start. And yes, they are doing it for image, but they’re still smart enough to realize that whatever facility was used to treat people is going to need massive decontamination afterwards, even if only for appearances sake.
“...when it would be faster and cheaper to commandeer existing buildings...”
That is the plan in the USA. There was an interview or article by some bigshot, former fed. He said the Feds have tons of emergency supplies to be sent to local governments.
But - not all local governments are up to speed on their plans. It would be the locals taking schools and turning them into hospitals. And the locals that have the worst time of it and best/fastest plan would get the materials first.
So while the feds might have a bunch of stuff, it still won’t be enough to get to everyone.
Nobody thinks it’s a good idea to transport victims cross country - their “ghost cities” are basically on the other side of their country.
Part of that plan is for the Feds to provide prefabs and military tents - as the Chinese are hastily throwing together.
I’m not too worried. I felt confident after seeing the White House briefing on Friday - I think we have good, smart men doing their best in this effort.
I’m certainly glad that I’m here, and not in Communist China. Some political philosophies and values are far superior to others; and they make for superior men and systems.
I’m not worried either....news said there’s now just 11 cases throughout the US and these seem to be coming in from people traveling from China or in contact with them for the most part. There has to be a lot more than 11 cases for me to be concerned. But it’s just wise to keep track what’s reported etc.
I’m being pro-active already because of the two flu strains this season. So there’s nothing more I’d do I’m not already doing. Good thing I don’t like going out in cold weather, I tend to hibernate, and shop non-busy hours.
Anywhere over seas right now is risky Imo.
China has whole cities, with shops, high-rise apt complexes, municipal bldgs, etc built and sitting empty. They show up on sat pix. And more are under construction ...
Thanks for that clarification.
Nonetheless, they surely have warehouse space they can repurpose.
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