Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/22/wuhan-pop-11-million-shutt.html
…
4 Likes
Can anybody recommend a good visual global pandemic tracker? The few I found quickly today were not being kept up to date.
5 Likes
10 Likes
This is pretty nuts. Shutting down a major city - and right before new year, no less. I assume they don’t want people traveling for that either. But I’m unclear exactly what they want/expect to happen - that people won’t go to work? That deliveries of goods won’t happen?
It feels like a very Chinese response - local officials feeling pressured to “do something” perform a totalitarian, incredibly disruptive, but largely symbolic action without thinking about the consequences, that has a hugely negative impact on millions of people, creates total chaos on a massive scale, and ultimately doesn’t even really address the problem. Meanwhile the root issue that caused the problem (unregulated sales of wild animals in unsanitary conditions) continues unchecked…
15 Likes
Imagine if we had a functioning government, concerned with the welfare of its citizenry rather than personal gain and maintaining control of the levers of power.
7 Likes
I guess the next step is to wall off the city entirely. I think I’ve seen that show…
6 Likes
Careful of the kid that looks immune, he’s actually just asymptomatic.
3 Likes
They’re screening passengers coming from Wuhan at some US Airports now. And expanding to more Airports.
1 Like
We won’t know how serious this is until we see how Greenland and Madagascar respond.
7 Likes
The Giant Meteor for president 2020 campaign, has now to compete with Global Pandemic 2020. I much preferred Pat Paulson.
3 Likes
It’s got people nervous like SARS. Canada got hit surprisingly hard last time, the west doesn’t want a repeat of that. China already has it and they try spend equal efforts on trying to suppress panic as they spend on prevention, detection, and quarantines. Guess that’s how things are in authoritarianism, but it seems counter productive or at least highly inefficient.
1 Like
No sir. I’ve got to praise them on this action. You note that it is inconvenient, falling as it does on the eve of Chinese New Year. It is possible that you are not aware that these holidays and perhaps one other annual holiday promotes a mass exodus from the cities back to the home villages to hang out with the family. We are talking multi-millions of people on the move across the country. Wuhan has effectively been quarantined. If anything, it should have happened sooner. And to not do it at this critical time of year would have been criminal neglect. Chances are this virus is transmissible from human to human and until the method of transmission is determined the quarantine of Wuhan shuts down that vector. Keep it in Wuhan rather than let it become global. SARS was chaotic and caused untold economic damage besides the small matter of illness. Beijing (pop. 20 million) became a pretty quiet town for sure.
6 Likes
Dammit, Global Pandemic is going to split the Giant Meteor vote and Trump will get in in again!
7 Likes
This one actually does worry me a little. Although details are somewhat lacking, it seems to have a fairly long incubation period, which makes it very easy to expose lots of people while asymptomatic.
7 Likes
According to a Wall Street journal news alert, two neighboring cities have also been shut down
“On Thursday, authorities in Huanggang—a city of 7.5 million people—said they won’t let long-distance trains and buses run from the urban center and will shut its public transportation system in the lockdown zone, effective midnight Friday local time. Ezhou, another neighboring city with just over a million residents, said it would enact similar restrictions.”
3 Likes
They blocked for 3 weeks the words “Wuhan” and “SARS” on social media.
Now, the are late to shut down an entire city…
And the people can still use private transportation, there is a lot of money to do carrying people with DiDi (UBER) these days.
Don’t worry, the PR game is still on.
2 Likes
Not quarantine, all private transportation are still up and running.
Truck are getting hired to put people on the rear and go to the next city.
Always the magic trick with China
2 Likes
Report on NPR this morning said they shut things down sequentially, starting with the airports, then trains and now have started shutting down the highways. Suspect backroads will be tough, and pig paths impossible. Late to the game anyway, as it has already spread to other large (and huge) cities as well as internationally. Mostly PR I suspect.
4 Likes
Third City locked down in China now.
London UK - suspected case.
This virus is obviously venomously contagious. Oh fuck.
https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
Helen Branswell is a pro on contagious disease
