I think there are many interesting parallels between the Chinese response to 2019-nCov and the one child policy.
In both cases, China took extraordinary measures no western government would even contemplate, at great political and economic cost to China, which not only massively benefits the Chinese population, but also the world, in the long run.
It would have been so much easier and less economically and politically damaging for China just to follow standard WHO approved measures, much like the US did back in 2009 with Swine Flu, and then shrug and say it was inevitable when the virus spreads across the world.
It could then leverage its better funded and more advanced medical institutions to keep the number of infected and dead down, which would compare favourably to many other less fortunate parts of the world, and use those statistics to assuage public anger.
That’s why I suggest China fully co-operates with western PR focused evacuation flights. Let them take Chinese National partners, children, hell, they are welcome to take their blood pets as well if they want.
It’s not that I want the virus to spread and kill more people, but sadly given the scale of the outbreak, I think it’s pretty much inevitable now, with the only question a matter of when.
Best case scenario is that China keeps the virus bottled up long enough for a vaccine to become available, but that would only really benefit the rich developed world who can afford that.
On balance, it may be better for the virus to break out of China sooner rather than later, so that the rich western world would stop gleefully engaging in petty point scoring on the sidelines and engage in covert economic warfare and actually fully commit to the fight against this virus.
I bet the west would invest significantly more effort and resources towards trying to find a vaccine and cure then they are now if this virus was spreading uncontrollably in their own countries.
