We know everything about Chinese Communist official figures can be adjusted. So we watch what they do, not what they say.
In February, 80% of the entire economy of China was shut down and non-productive. Electricity use was down, coal use was low, container ships sat in ports, and satellite tracking of aerosols showed the air over China was cleaner than it has been, probably for a century. Locking down the nation must have been wildly expensive, and yet the Chinese still behave as if this is a plague and it’s worth doing everything humanly possible to avoid.
They said it was preventable and treatable, only infected the old, and was like the flu. What do they know that they are not saying?
CCP autocrats are known for organ harvesting not for compassion, so we could assume that culling off a few old folk would be deemed “useful” in a nation with older demographics.
They are incompetent, communist management, but they are not stupid. This reaction speaks volumes about how seriously the CCP views Covid-19:
They’ve found 34 new cases and they’re locking down 100 million people
Over 100 Million in China’s Northeast Face Renewed Lockdown
Some 108 million people in China’s northeast region are being plunged back under lockdown conditions as a new and growing cluster of infections causes a backslide in the nation’s return to normal.
In an abrupt reversal of the re-opening taking place across the nation, cities in Jilin province have cut off trains and buses, shut schools and quarantined tens of thousands of people. The strict measures have dismayed many residents who had thought the worst of the nation’s epidemic was over.
People cannot even buy panadol (tylenol) at chemists so they can hide their fever:
… delivery services have been mostly halted and anti-fever medication is banned at drugstores to prevent people from hiding their symptoms. The tension has spread to nearby areas, even if no cases have been reported officially in those places yet.
“Everyone is jittery,” said Wang Yuemei, a pharmaceutical factory worker in neighboring Tonghua
In total since the beginning to the pandemic Jilin province has had only 127 cases. (Officially, anyhow.) This new outbreak may have been seeded from people returning across the border from Russia.
In other news this week China found 11 new cases in Wuhan and decided to test 11 million people.
The Chinese city of Wuhan will test all 11 million residents for coronavirus after a small cluster of cases emerged over the weekend, according to state media.
Six new cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed in the city and a report from a state run media outlet The Paper has claimed authorities will now test all of the city’s 11 million residents within 10 days.
The report refers to the plan as a “10 day battle”, with each district responsible for testing its local residents.
It’s just the flu.