Xi Jinping Lets a Thousand Viruses Bloom

Without Planning China Ended Zero Covid and the Virus is Spreading Rapidly

After the Protests across China, Xi Jinping ended the Zero Tolerance Covid policy, but apparently did little to plan for the inevitable spread of the Covid Omicron virus. Though the bars and fencing have been removed from residences and commercial property, the rapid spread of Covid in a population with little immunity to the disease, due to the lack of many prior Covid infections is reported, as predicted, to be spreading very rapidly throughout the Chinese population. Some people reported that 50% to 60% of their relatives and friends have developed Covid symptoms.

And China being the omnipresent planning society apparently did not plan for the relaxation or elimination of the Zero Covid policy as pharmacies are running out of Covid testing kits and common medications for flu-like symptoms. People in Beijing are trying to order medications from rural pharmacies not subject to the shortages of medications ion the major cities. Hospitals and clinics are being besieged with people seeking treatment for their Covid symptoms, but even the hospitals and clinics are running out of medications.

Beijing also decided to end the ubiquitous Covid testing stations, so there are not even any accurate records of the number and location of people having succumbed to Covid. Estimates of Covid are just that and lacking any real data to back up the estimates.

As a result people in the major cities are now self-isolating by staying in their houses and not venturing out except for necessities. Reports of empty streets in Beijing and Shanghai are common. Restaurants thought they would get a surge of business with the end of the Zero Tolerance policy, but instead their restaurants are still empty as people are not venturing out, and the restaurant owners say that they are not even doing take-out business since Covid has infected the multitude of delivery persons who themselves have contracted Covid and others not yet infected are staying indoors to avoid Covid spread. The founder of the Southern Beauty Group, a restaurant group serving mainly szechuan spicy food, and one of my favorites, is bemoaning the lack of planning for the New Opening and the resulting absence of customers.

Beijing is now embarking on a large vaccination program particularly for the elderly who previously were not boosted and may not even have taken initial injections. Then again the Chinese Covid vaccines have a much lower efficacy than the mRNA vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna. It is not known if Chinese vaccines have been modified to suppress the subvariants of Omicron such as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5.

Beijing still resists importing the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, preferring to rely on their less efficacious Chinese versions based on older technology.

So, it seems that Xi Jinping was deeply moved by the protests but jumped too quickly without that planning that Chinese Communist Party prefers, and now they are suffering the predicted consequences of a very major Covid outbreak without the medical resources needed to suppress and control the virus. On top of that the rapid spread of Covid in the 1.4 billion Chinese population raises the chance that new subvariants of Omicron will develop in the Chinese population and then spread to the rest of thee world.

So in our interconnected world, Xi Jinping’s bad Covid decisions may have negative consequences across the globe.

All of this was predicted by many, but when a society limits dissent and open exchange of ideas and relies on leaders to enunciate policies without significant input from a wide variety of sources, the result is the worst of all possible options.

There is also a lesson here for those anti-science people in the U.S. and elsewhere who deprecate science, and even this week we have the specter of the previously richest man in the world (his source of wealth is Tesla stock which has declined 58% this year) attacking Dr. Fauci and calling for his prosecution for some unknown offense only known in the mind of Elon Musk. So, China has Xi Jinping running amok with unplanned policy changes and our home grown imitation dictator, Mr. Musk, attacks Dr. Fauci when most sane people are celebrating his 50 years of humanitarian service to science and medicine. Dr. Fauci is a dedicated professional who has done much to better humanity. The same cannot be said for Elon Musk.

Where will Xi Jinping go now with the massive Covid outbreaks in China? He would be wise to consult with experts around the world for ideas on how to contain the Chinese Covid virus infection, but unfortunately he will probably stick with those less efficacious Chinese vaccines. Not a good outcome is to be expected.