Mista
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I think it is undeniable that China's dynamic zero covid policy have save a lot of Chinese life and largely kept its economics chungging along uninterrupted.
It is miraculous that China - the world factory has manage to run largely uninterrupted and supply the whole world with lots of vaccine, masks and medical equipment and supply. In that sense, it has also help to save life outside of China.
But with the more transmissible Omicron variant, interruption in Chinese life become more frequent. And some people are complaining.
Whether it could be contained into mostly zero cases and death for most of the time like before Or kept at a certain acceptable level Or fail altogether and kept at natural level, is unknown and yet to be seen.
Fact is, we have a pandemic and people are continously dying day by day. So far, It doesn't look like it is going away any time soon.
The Chinese people expect the gov't to protect them. Passively doing nothing would be seen as a failure, dereliction of duty and gross negligence. I think It is unlikely that zero covid would be abandon altogether, but easing of restrictions is already happening.
At this current moment, for China to give up, I think it would require Chinese people to accept the death of at least hundred of thousand Covid death per year, every year, as the new normal.
Yes, this is a more mature response. Even North Korea can't keep out Covid. If China wants to keep down Covid it has to double down on its current measures which are already causing a lot of pain. At some point the cost of restrictions to the society will outweigh the benefits, and you have to be flexible and change course accordingly.
Human societies have never prioritized human lives at all costs, otherwise alcohol, tobacco, sugary drinks etc would have been banned right from the start when they were deemed harmful. WHO estimates that ~1mil deaths in China are caused directly or indirectly by tobacco every year. If 生命至上 is really as it is claimed, is China going to ban tobacco?
Tobacco - China
Tobacco use is the world's single biggest cause of preventable death and noncommunicable disease. Up to half of all smokers will die from tobacco-related illnesses such as cancer or lung and heart disease.
www.who.int
Back last year when Singapore still has very low levels of cases and the people are still pro-zero-Covid, the government make the conscious decision to open up knowing that it will lead to more deaths. But 疏不如堵, it's better to divert the flood rather than trying to block the flood. You have to set up healthcare protocols for the public to familiarize, take time to persuade the population that the virus is not deadly for most of the population especially for the vaccinated, and that it's fine to quarantine at home if you're low risk. Adjust accordingly. All this takes time to mature, so when the flood comes you're not overwhelmed.
If you try blocking the flood and the flood overwhelms you, it would be like HK earlier this year with 200+ deaths daily. Healthcare system overwhelmed because people are confused and panicked, low risk groups visit and take up the hospital resources which is unnecessary. There is no healthcare protocol in place to focus only on the vulnerable, because before that they were quarantining everyone.
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(protocols then, outdated now)
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