“Neither the ‘NBC Nightly News’ nor ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ bothered to mention China’s past deceptiveness on SARS, and CBS never re-visited the issue,” Noyes wrote.
It's fair to mention the SARS episode. But if that's used just to China bash or claim China is being all deceptive now, it's pretty shallow and worthless.
I doubt anyone really wants a China analysis providing context, but here goes:
Back in 2003, there was a different leadership in China and China was more insular and more defensive. Somewhat like Trump today, China was worried about taking an economic hit and image was everything. So yeah, they did things like hide SARS patients when WHO visited, including driving some around Beijing in ambulances until those intl health folks left. When that news came out, they were embarrassed. And the PR mistake was obvious, along with the notion that you can hide such things.
Don't think China hasn't learned some lessons from the SARS outbreak, its shoddy PR handling and the hit to its int'l image. The immediate discussion in China was what lessons had they learned from SARS and their poor handling of some aspects.
Then as now, China was undergoing a crackdown (Falun Gong then, far western Muslims today) which made its first reaction to be to smack down anyone with bad news. Its a more powerful and authoritarian leadership today, and they still don't like info that makes the gov't look bad. But China is much more international now (the 2008 Olympics were essentially China's coming out party), more invested overseas, wealthier and more confident.
Once the gov't realized what was going on and the extent of the problem, China has been pretty open about what is going on. They mostly refused outside help, partly because China is wealthy enough to handle things but also to limit criticism and second-guessing. Now the citizens don't actually trust gov't info, but the gov't realized that its handling of the virus was crucial, not least because most of its credibility relies on the economy being good and social stability being maintained.
The gov't has gone out of its way to make info about the virus (not just in China but all over the world, to show its not just a China problem). But the breakdowns on New Cases, Suspected Cases, Total Cases, Cured, and Deaths has been updated daily, and broken down by province, major city and Hubei province in detail. This is all available on Wechat, a chatting/payment/everything app that most Chinese have. A lot better than the junk the CDC has made available on their website.
Restrictive measures in China have varied by city, province, and level of outbreak. But I've been impressed with Shanghai's measures and implementation. For instance, I'm heading to the hospital this afternoon to catch up with my doctor friends. To enter the hospital grounds, I needed to verify my ID on my phone, which provided my with a special green QR code that the guards will scan. So they will know who I am and at what time I entered the hospital. If I come down with the virus or anyone else does during that time period, they'll contact trace and test me.
While i'm there, I'll get more info on who can get tested, and how long they have to wait to get the test and for the results.
I have trouble thinking what other measures Shanghai could adopt. The only thing I notice was the airport could have been handled better. Passengers crowd at a small table to fill out health forms. Everyone wearing masks, but still unnecessary close contact. Forms could have been passed out on the plane. And there should have been more desks, tables, writing areas. Also I would space people out in groups of 10, instead of the whole planeload packing in together.
And on the plane, everyone wears masks until meals are served. I would advocate serving every other row. So every other row would still have masks on. Then go back and feed up the other half.
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