Student Opinion: China’s New Wave of Cases Controlled Immediately

By Michelle Moreno Lira

A province in China sparked a surge of new COVID-19 cases, and police authorities quickly controlled the situation. Unlike the U.S. government, the province was immediately put on lockdown, attempting to stop the virus’s spread again. 

China is a perfect example of what a government can do when they care about their citizens’ wellbeing. Despite worsening conditions in states across the country, the U.S. has strayed away from locking down cities and enforcing restrictions such as closing non-essential businesses. 

The Chinese government was better able to lock down more than 17 million people and mandate that everyone gets tested within days. Despite China forcing hundreds of businesses to close, their economy seems to be growing while other countries are struggling to stay afloat. 

China’s government has proven that they’re taking the virus seriously and will take any precautions to prevent another pandemic in the future. In five months, China hadn’t recorded a major wave of cases; as opposed to the U.S. who has been trying to tackle the virus and its effects since March of 2020.

I commend the Chinese government for putting their citizens first. This has allowed them to bring their economy back to normal and even increase it during a worldwide pandemic. As someone who lives in California, I wish our government enforced a lockdown to increase ICU capacity and give essential healthcare workers a well-deserved break. 

California has been in the eye of the storm lately, with hospitals being overwhelmed by a surge in cases. Dr. Fauci believes California will soon see a major lockdown by officials, “In California, which is really being stressed with regard to the hospital beds and the personnel who are really getting exhausted with the number of cases that are coming in.” 

Americans seem to believe that because cases in their cities have gone down, the virus has disappeared. Public Health Professor Ali Mokdad believes “people’s behavior is dynamic… when cases go down, people go back to normal business.” People who chose to ignore the statistics and professionals make it harder for vigilant individuals to remain healthy despite all their precautions. 

Hundreds of individuals are suffering because they’ve lost loved ones out of the government’s selfish need to maintain non-essential businesses open, such as shopping centers or outdoor-dining at restaurants. China has maintained cities with high COVID-19 cases closed and has enforced non-essential gatherings and limited spaces where COVID-19 may spread. 

Despite a new wave of cases, the death toll remained at 4,634 in mainland China, compared to the U.S. death toll of around 380,000. This is a clear indication that China’s government cares more about its citizens than the U.S. does in the sense of monitoring the virus and tackling it. People in China have followed directions and restrictions placed by their government, compared to most Americans who refuse to wear masks and believe the virus is a hoax by liberals. 

China’s government is taken seriously by its citizens, which allows them to move together as a country. The U.S. government has instead built distrust between them and Americans, which prevents them from moving forward. China’s leadership is strong and requires its citizens to test negative if they’re traveling from a city with high COVID-19 cases. The U.S. has allowed individuals to continue non-essential travel without requiring tests or isolation once they enter the country. 

Other countries like China have gone on lockdowns, and their citizens have cooperated throughout the decision-making process. The reason why other countries’ virus rates are going down is because they’ve managed to attack the virus before it spreads wider. People are following guidelines, along with taking orders from professionals and scientists. Not to mention, other countries’ governments aren’t falling apart because of their President’s false information.

In October of 2020, President Donald Trump called Dr. Fauci a series of hateful terms and discredited him as a professional scientist. He referred to him as ‘disaster’ and reinforced the idea that Americans are ‘tired’ of COVID-19, leading his supporters to believe COVID-19 isn’t as serious as previously thought. Like the President, many of his followers are small-minded and follow his beliefs instead of listening to scientists.

The political climate in the U.S. recently has made it harder for the country to move together and focus on the bigger picture. Groups of white supremacists and domestic terrorists have made it harder for Americans to come together and tackle the virus that is affecting us all. 

Unlike China, it doesn’t seem like the U.S. government will gain control of the virus until president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. Until then, we can expect cases to continue rising and the death toll to reach new milestones.

Michelle Moreno is a fourth-year majoring in English and minoring in Chicano Studies. She is from Downtown Los Angeles.

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