Boots Thermometer
boots thermometer, The Chinese Communist Party has been forced to abandon these claims in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. When Chinese Internet users flooded social media sites with indignation following the death of Dr. Li, their calls for freedom of speech were scrubbed from the Internet by censors. And the man who filmed body bags at a Chinese hospital was arrested and interrogated by police officers pretending to be hospital workers. The central authorities, under the control of Chairman Xi Jinping, explicitly prioritize political security over fighting the epidemic, with grievous consequences for us all.
boots thermometer - China’s coordination with the outside world has been little better. Chinese scientists only released the genome of coronavirus, which is essential to finding a vaccine, in mid-January – six weeks after the start of the outbreak. And China has rejected repeated American offers to send teams of scientists and doctors to Wuhan. As the U.S. government took prudent measures to protect American citizens – including the announcement of travel restrictions late last week – Beijing issued propagandistic coverage that blamed our country for “spreading fear” about the outbreak.
boots thermometer, The desire of public officials to downplay serious outbreaks of disease is a frequent historical occurrence – and it’s almost always deadly. Officials may hope by their actions to prevent panic, serious economic disruption, or political instability. But measures to suppress the truth about epidemics typically fail in their objectives, while hastening the spread of disease. This human frailty, exacerbated by the suffocating dynamics of authoritarian regimes, was illustrated in the Chinese Communist Party’s disastrous response to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003. In the early weeks of that epidemic, the Communist Party claimed falsely that the outbreak in Guangdong Province was under “effective control.”
boots thermometer - Yet the disease was still spreading, and secrecy within the Chinese Communist Party itself delayed the government’s response. An early internal report on the disease went unread for three days because it was labeled “top secret.” Rivalry between the military and political factions of the Chinese Community Party hindered its response yet further. The Communist Party only responded strongly to the SARS outbreak after weeks of growing panic, disruptions and death. It started by firing its top health ministers.
boots thermometer - China is now learning anew the consequences of wishful thinking and secrecy when facing a deadly illness. The disastrous spread of coronavirus will surely take a toll on the party’s credibility in the eyes of the Chinese people – as it should. But the Chinese government is still the central actor in this drama, and it can still play a constructive role in mitigating harm to the world from this coronavirus. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR OPINION NEWSLETTER First, China must cooperate with world health authorities to combat the disease and allow international experts – including teams from the United States – to work and conduct research at the center of the epidemic in Hubei province.