It's not just the US it is the whole western world (NA and Europe especially).
And it isn't just Covid, it is climate change too.
Today there is a blizzard where I live. I attempted to go to work, got about 3 miles from home, and pulled into a "Tim's" for a coffee to assess whether I would continue to risk my life or turn around. While sipping my coffee and waiting for it to at least get light outside, I listened to a conversation at another table. Here is what I learned:
--climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by scientists on the take.
--NASA has debunked climate change
--Vaccines are killing people; Covid is not a problem
There have been times where I jumped into the middle of conversations like this and tried to nudge/cadjol/harrangue people into the light. Today I did not. Today I sank under the weight of the despair.
On the plus side, I made it home and participated in a Zoom meeting instead of the in-person meeting. Bigger plus: one of the attendees is Covid+ at the moment and was intending to be there in person.
Bullet dodged. But it is hard not to feel that all the asshats out there are gunning for everyone else.
Embarrassed to say I gained way more than 12 pounds in 2020, ate very badly and did not rediscover walking. Guess I was in the minority, but it wasn’t a healthy time for me.
It had very little to do with the lockdowns though. I was terrified of the virus and what it could do to my pregnant wife, and junk food was a way of coping. Even if nothing and no one had ever locked down, I still would have been terrified, and I still would have overate. It was the trauma of the virus itself that pushed me to that, not the precautions against it, and I hate that stories like mine are used to justify anti-lockdown rhetoric.
This piece, as always with your writing, helps me feel sane. There are so many of us “sentinels” out there! Hi friends!😉✨🧡
I am a preschool teacher who left the classroom for two years as a safety precaution and returned this year by wearing an elastometric mask and built CR box filters for my classroom. I am the only one who masks, even when others are clearly sick. I’m the only teacher who hasn’t been out sick. Most of my students, if not all have been sick multiple times. This is the first year where masks were dropped. Last year we didn’t have these outbreaks in class. I wonder why?
My comment is this: As a preschool teacher, it’s my job to teach young children to look out for each other and really lean into the idea of teamwork and togetherness over “me first!”.
Your observation of how we expect China to build and make all of our stuff without disruption while we ridicule their policies is peak Space Karen.
This line--“If China practiced Zero-Covid, Americans practiced Zero-Effort.” That about sums it up.
That’s just it. If I can’t even “convince” my co teachers in a preschool to wear a mask and stay home if they’re sick, to help keep children and teachers healthy, than how can we even do this job with sincerity in our teaching teamwork? If a teacher isn’t willing to cover their face holes to model appropriate social norms during a (triple) pandemic, than what are we even doing in this field of Early Childhood Education? Aren’t we teaching how we help each other? To help someone get back up when they’ve fallen down? Maybe it’s just me.
I’m not in agreement with how China implemented their Zero Covid policy but I wish we did the same (just implemented a little more humanely). We (the world) could have eradicated Covid but we decided that profits over people would be our guiding light and here we are. Shame.
I’m also scared to see how this surge from China plays out in the US in the coming year. It’s going to be rough.
My job as a preschool teacher, is to teach teamwork and social responsibility to kids but I work with colleagues who don’t practice what they teach, not even a little bit. It’s heartbreaking to see my very own students winding up in ICUs because we simply can’t be bothered to change.
Here’s to the sentinels out there keeping the light bright in these dark times.
I see you. ✨🐝
Thank you Jessica. You’re a beacon of sanity and I’m happy you’re here being a helper. We are better because of you.
Although I sympathize with the point you're making here, the CPC had over 2 years to take advantage of Zero COVID to prepare for reopening. They could have spent money building up drug stockpiles, expanding hospital ER's and recover wards, and training public health officials on proper control approaches and neighborhood tracking. They squandered that time they bought with strict control measures and now the population will be totally overwhelmed with COVID and other respiratory diseases.
I'll also say this as someone who lived in rural China for nearly three years: The rural Chinese health system is utter garbage. It's about on par with the old barefoot doctors of the Cultural Revolution. Most rural clinics have a few sheets of Paracetamol and some 555-brand decongestant on hand, along with some surgical tools to take care of basic needs or sprains/breaks. Anything more complicated and you're heading into the city for a lengthy stay in a municipal hospital which has its own limitations. Birthing wards, from what I heard, were long hallways with surgical dividers hung up between beds. The whole system outside of the Tier-1 Cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, etc.) was already shambolic.
While no one should celebrate this, our sympathy belongs with the Chinese people and not the government that squandered two years lead time.
Excellent article. At least the Chinese acknowledge how dangerous COVID is. My pet peeve is the CDC only pushing masking "in areas of high transmission." They reinforced the idea that masks are a serious inconvenience and to be recommended only when the risk of infection is already high. And the initial reluctance of the CDC and WHO to acknowledge that COVID is airborne seriously damaged their credibility. I despise politicians like DeSantis who deliberately undermine efforts to contain the virus. But I've been very disappointed in "the good guys'" hapless performance, including the current administration. If Republicans get an F in public health, Democrats get a C+ at best.
I don't think this is so much a matter of celebrating China's suffering as enjoying the embarrassment of yet another arrogant oligarch. Like Putin and Musk and all the others, Xi thought he knew everything, and everyone is now suffering for his ignorance.
We might have been impressed if, during the lockdown 1) China got everyone inoculated with multiple vaccine types, 2) they built up their health care system for the inevitable crush, 3) they installed better ventilation in all businesses and public places, 4) legislated for paid sick leave, 5) used a sliding scale for lockdowns to contend with the health care load.
Major bonus points--in fact, the whole damn game--for doing the one thing that China is really good at: stealing IP, in this case all the other vaccines developed, mass producing them for their own people, and then giving them free to all third world countries. This would have made Xi a contender to the Nobel Prize, and given China moral credibility that it so clearly lacks.
But he's just another oligarch, with no vision, no purpose, and no real justification for his existence.
Oh so true. America has been the bully since WWII and doesn't want to give up that distinction. It will eventually bring us down and not in a very nice way. I feel bad for the other countries having to endure all of the American chest beating and applaud them for stepping up in the face of American aggression. I hope more of them do in the future and bring the United States down off their self-inflated perch someday. Then maybe the world will become a better place to live in.
I went on line to CVS, RiteAid. Walgreen pharmacy in my Northern California local area to test your assertion ---result for children's tylenol: out, out, out. My god, you are right! I am in disbelief at how badly we have selected our priorities.
Billions spent toward an imaginary war that no one will win and a host of other drama could do so much more in our country.
Armchair quarterbacking on a Monday, but I think China bit off way more than anyone could chew with their implementation lockdown strategy. Considering their totalitarian use of the China social graph with CCP implenters pushing people's buttons in mass with no historical data on what could go wrong in a real pandemic, well, maybe they could have focused on masking first, as in no mask no service anything plus distancing in cue lines etc. The fallout for segregating people in mass without clear data regarding infections is really instant trouble. Shoving everyone into makeshift treatment centers by the thousands is the definition of super spreaders. Especially with suspect data to begin with.
Did the US react any better, well, tooting our own horns, plus access to working vaccine agents, yes of course we did better, somewhat, those that listened and still listen today. But of course politically opportunity knocked for power hungry meatheads, IMO, as is still ongoing, that is many didn't listen to medical experts but talk radio and crap they exchanged on FB-Meta, and many other media outlets. What a shame, that alone probably kill half a million here in the US. IMO. Meatheads ongoing?
Where do I start, oh yeah, how about Gov. DeSantis of Florida. Backed mRNA vaccine distribution in his state previously, then now apparently in a possible bid for 2024 president is at war with the working vaccines, and very proud about this. He is only one meathead, there are hundreds more in higher government positions. Obviously anyone in this group thread could go on and on about all this dysfunction in our governance, but I'll spare you all.
America should adopt policies more favorable toward the disabled such as eugenics, welding people inside their apartments, and placing disfavored minorities in camps.
Just one observation: all might transpire as the worst case scenario suggests, but we should be careful with our predictions. Nothing said about China in the west is said in good faith. The media WANT China to fail disasterously and are predicting this as outcome even before it happens. The Feigl-Ding references in his thread have been criticized as being source by the Falung Gong, not a China sympathetic organization. So, we should beware of endorsing scenarios before they materialize and be skeptical of all sources telling us China is, once again, collapsing.
A group project is a fair analogy for international affairs, but I think one of those awful reality shows is a better one. People are forced to be together that don't understand each other doing challenges that are obtuse, trite, or both. Everyone is sectioning off into clicks and totally certain of their own moral and intellectual superiority. A few folks try to differentiate themselves by trashing the team they have been assigned to, and it is impossible to know if this is sincere reflection, or just an antisocial trick to try and claim resources entirely for themselves. At the end of the day all the teams get screwed by their most narcissistic members and the winner is the team that lost least badly. The main difference is those shows have audiences and we don't have to watch them let alone be in them. With this mess the shameless criminals on top make all the decisions and we have to deal with all the consequences. C'est la vie?
As a U.S. citizen it’s very hard to criticize China for anything because the sinophobia is so, so rampant. Is China a perfect government? No. Is their COVID response one of only a handful of things they’ve done right recently? It’s honestly hard to tell, because the media spins so heavily toward the negative.
People will criticize everything China does but don’t keep any of that energy toward criticizing U.S. policies. American nationalism will rewrite reality every time, and whenever we have to take a collective action that gets labeled as eeeevil Communism.
And maybe China wouldn’t have needed that zero-Covid policy if, like you said, the Western world had put some real effort in. But no one mentions that, because it’s easier to laugh at someone’s failure* than acknowledge how WE might bear some responsibility.
*even though that failure involves people suffering, dying, being traumatized in god knows how many ways
If China practiced Zero-Covid, Americans practiced Zero-Effort.
Thank you. Excellent analysis.
It's not just the US it is the whole western world (NA and Europe especially).
And it isn't just Covid, it is climate change too.
Today there is a blizzard where I live. I attempted to go to work, got about 3 miles from home, and pulled into a "Tim's" for a coffee to assess whether I would continue to risk my life or turn around. While sipping my coffee and waiting for it to at least get light outside, I listened to a conversation at another table. Here is what I learned:
--climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by scientists on the take.
--NASA has debunked climate change
--Vaccines are killing people; Covid is not a problem
There have been times where I jumped into the middle of conversations like this and tried to nudge/cadjol/harrangue people into the light. Today I did not. Today I sank under the weight of the despair.
On the plus side, I made it home and participated in a Zoom meeting instead of the in-person meeting. Bigger plus: one of the attendees is Covid+ at the moment and was intending to be there in person.
Bullet dodged. But it is hard not to feel that all the asshats out there are gunning for everyone else.
Embarrassed to say I gained way more than 12 pounds in 2020, ate very badly and did not rediscover walking. Guess I was in the minority, but it wasn’t a healthy time for me.
It had very little to do with the lockdowns though. I was terrified of the virus and what it could do to my pregnant wife, and junk food was a way of coping. Even if nothing and no one had ever locked down, I still would have been terrified, and I still would have overate. It was the trauma of the virus itself that pushed me to that, not the precautions against it, and I hate that stories like mine are used to justify anti-lockdown rhetoric.
This piece, as always with your writing, helps me feel sane. There are so many of us “sentinels” out there! Hi friends!😉✨🧡
I am a preschool teacher who left the classroom for two years as a safety precaution and returned this year by wearing an elastometric mask and built CR box filters for my classroom. I am the only one who masks, even when others are clearly sick. I’m the only teacher who hasn’t been out sick. Most of my students, if not all have been sick multiple times. This is the first year where masks were dropped. Last year we didn’t have these outbreaks in class. I wonder why?
My comment is this: As a preschool teacher, it’s my job to teach young children to look out for each other and really lean into the idea of teamwork and togetherness over “me first!”.
Your observation of how we expect China to build and make all of our stuff without disruption while we ridicule their policies is peak Space Karen.
This line--“If China practiced Zero-Covid, Americans practiced Zero-Effort.” That about sums it up.
That’s just it. If I can’t even “convince” my co teachers in a preschool to wear a mask and stay home if they’re sick, to help keep children and teachers healthy, than how can we even do this job with sincerity in our teaching teamwork? If a teacher isn’t willing to cover their face holes to model appropriate social norms during a (triple) pandemic, than what are we even doing in this field of Early Childhood Education? Aren’t we teaching how we help each other? To help someone get back up when they’ve fallen down? Maybe it’s just me.
I’m not in agreement with how China implemented their Zero Covid policy but I wish we did the same (just implemented a little more humanely). We (the world) could have eradicated Covid but we decided that profits over people would be our guiding light and here we are. Shame.
I’m also scared to see how this surge from China plays out in the US in the coming year. It’s going to be rough.
My job as a preschool teacher, is to teach teamwork and social responsibility to kids but I work with colleagues who don’t practice what they teach, not even a little bit. It’s heartbreaking to see my very own students winding up in ICUs because we simply can’t be bothered to change.
Here’s to the sentinels out there keeping the light bright in these dark times.
I see you. ✨🐝
Thank you Jessica. You’re a beacon of sanity and I’m happy you’re here being a helper. We are better because of you.
✨💚
Although I sympathize with the point you're making here, the CPC had over 2 years to take advantage of Zero COVID to prepare for reopening. They could have spent money building up drug stockpiles, expanding hospital ER's and recover wards, and training public health officials on proper control approaches and neighborhood tracking. They squandered that time they bought with strict control measures and now the population will be totally overwhelmed with COVID and other respiratory diseases.
I'll also say this as someone who lived in rural China for nearly three years: The rural Chinese health system is utter garbage. It's about on par with the old barefoot doctors of the Cultural Revolution. Most rural clinics have a few sheets of Paracetamol and some 555-brand decongestant on hand, along with some surgical tools to take care of basic needs or sprains/breaks. Anything more complicated and you're heading into the city for a lengthy stay in a municipal hospital which has its own limitations. Birthing wards, from what I heard, were long hallways with surgical dividers hung up between beds. The whole system outside of the Tier-1 Cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, etc.) was already shambolic.
While no one should celebrate this, our sympathy belongs with the Chinese people and not the government that squandered two years lead time.
Excellent article. At least the Chinese acknowledge how dangerous COVID is. My pet peeve is the CDC only pushing masking "in areas of high transmission." They reinforced the idea that masks are a serious inconvenience and to be recommended only when the risk of infection is already high. And the initial reluctance of the CDC and WHO to acknowledge that COVID is airborne seriously damaged their credibility. I despise politicians like DeSantis who deliberately undermine efforts to contain the virus. But I've been very disappointed in "the good guys'" hapless performance, including the current administration. If Republicans get an F in public health, Democrats get a C+ at best.
I don't think this is so much a matter of celebrating China's suffering as enjoying the embarrassment of yet another arrogant oligarch. Like Putin and Musk and all the others, Xi thought he knew everything, and everyone is now suffering for his ignorance.
We might have been impressed if, during the lockdown 1) China got everyone inoculated with multiple vaccine types, 2) they built up their health care system for the inevitable crush, 3) they installed better ventilation in all businesses and public places, 4) legislated for paid sick leave, 5) used a sliding scale for lockdowns to contend with the health care load.
Major bonus points--in fact, the whole damn game--for doing the one thing that China is really good at: stealing IP, in this case all the other vaccines developed, mass producing them for their own people, and then giving them free to all third world countries. This would have made Xi a contender to the Nobel Prize, and given China moral credibility that it so clearly lacks.
But he's just another oligarch, with no vision, no purpose, and no real justification for his existence.
Oh so true. America has been the bully since WWII and doesn't want to give up that distinction. It will eventually bring us down and not in a very nice way. I feel bad for the other countries having to endure all of the American chest beating and applaud them for stepping up in the face of American aggression. I hope more of them do in the future and bring the United States down off their self-inflated perch someday. Then maybe the world will become a better place to live in.
I went on line to CVS, RiteAid. Walgreen pharmacy in my Northern California local area to test your assertion ---result for children's tylenol: out, out, out. My god, you are right! I am in disbelief at how badly we have selected our priorities.
Billions spent toward an imaginary war that no one will win and a host of other drama could do so much more in our country.
Armchair quarterbacking on a Monday, but I think China bit off way more than anyone could chew with their implementation lockdown strategy. Considering their totalitarian use of the China social graph with CCP implenters pushing people's buttons in mass with no historical data on what could go wrong in a real pandemic, well, maybe they could have focused on masking first, as in no mask no service anything plus distancing in cue lines etc. The fallout for segregating people in mass without clear data regarding infections is really instant trouble. Shoving everyone into makeshift treatment centers by the thousands is the definition of super spreaders. Especially with suspect data to begin with.
Did the US react any better, well, tooting our own horns, plus access to working vaccine agents, yes of course we did better, somewhat, those that listened and still listen today. But of course politically opportunity knocked for power hungry meatheads, IMO, as is still ongoing, that is many didn't listen to medical experts but talk radio and crap they exchanged on FB-Meta, and many other media outlets. What a shame, that alone probably kill half a million here in the US. IMO. Meatheads ongoing?
Where do I start, oh yeah, how about Gov. DeSantis of Florida. Backed mRNA vaccine distribution in his state previously, then now apparently in a possible bid for 2024 president is at war with the working vaccines, and very proud about this. He is only one meathead, there are hundreds more in higher government positions. Obviously anyone in this group thread could go on and on about all this dysfunction in our governance, but I'll spare you all.
I wonder why the Chinese people decided to protest their government's policies to curtail covid 19.
America should adopt policies more favorable toward the disabled such as eugenics, welding people inside their apartments, and placing disfavored minorities in camps.
Just one observation: all might transpire as the worst case scenario suggests, but we should be careful with our predictions. Nothing said about China in the west is said in good faith. The media WANT China to fail disasterously and are predicting this as outcome even before it happens. The Feigl-Ding references in his thread have been criticized as being source by the Falung Gong, not a China sympathetic organization. So, we should beware of endorsing scenarios before they materialize and be skeptical of all sources telling us China is, once again, collapsing.
A group project is a fair analogy for international affairs, but I think one of those awful reality shows is a better one. People are forced to be together that don't understand each other doing challenges that are obtuse, trite, or both. Everyone is sectioning off into clicks and totally certain of their own moral and intellectual superiority. A few folks try to differentiate themselves by trashing the team they have been assigned to, and it is impossible to know if this is sincere reflection, or just an antisocial trick to try and claim resources entirely for themselves. At the end of the day all the teams get screwed by their most narcissistic members and the winner is the team that lost least badly. The main difference is those shows have audiences and we don't have to watch them let alone be in them. With this mess the shameless criminals on top make all the decisions and we have to deal with all the consequences. C'est la vie?
As a U.S. citizen it’s very hard to criticize China for anything because the sinophobia is so, so rampant. Is China a perfect government? No. Is their COVID response one of only a handful of things they’ve done right recently? It’s honestly hard to tell, because the media spins so heavily toward the negative.
People will criticize everything China does but don’t keep any of that energy toward criticizing U.S. policies. American nationalism will rewrite reality every time, and whenever we have to take a collective action that gets labeled as eeeevil Communism.
And maybe China wouldn’t have needed that zero-Covid policy if, like you said, the Western world had put some real effort in. But no one mentions that, because it’s easier to laugh at someone’s failure* than acknowledge how WE might bear some responsibility.
*even though that failure involves people suffering, dying, being traumatized in god knows how many ways
The more dead from covid, the less likely China is going to attack anyone. They attacked India again last week. Death to the aggressors.