Despite Strictest Quarantines, Virus Resurges in China and Sends 100 Million Into Lockdown
There’s little doubt that China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is among the strictest and harshest seen in the world.
With over 700 million people locked down in the early days of the country’s outbreak, the response sought to defeat the virus by utterly crushing citizens’ rights.
Despite the extreme measures, the communist powerhouse has yet to defeat COVID-19.
Last month, 10 million unlucky Chinese were thrown into a strict lockdown after the virus resurged. Thanks to the unquestioned rule of the Chinese Communist Party, these moves go largely unchallenged.
Now, an additional 108 million are looking at the same fate.
A outbreak of the virus in Jilin province has caused the Chinese government to impose a brutal lockdown in the country’s northeast region, Bloomberg reported Monday. The restrictions put on residents are at a level pro-lockdown Democrats in America can only dream of implementing.
A list of rules announced by the government of Shulan, a city in Jilin, gives a glimpse into what the daily lives of people in the area now look like.
“[Communities] with confirmed cases and suspected cases shall be fully enclosed and controlled,” the regional government wrote in Mandarin in a Monday post on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform.
It’s not all doom and gloom in the quarantined blocks and apartment buildings, however.
For residents itching to go outdoors, the government does make minor allowances — with some major punishments if rules are ignored.
“In the ordinary closed-managed community (village),” the post later continues, “each family assigns a family member to purchase living materials for 2 days, and the time limit for each outing is 2 hours, and the entry and exit time is indicated on the pass.”
“Failure to comply with this regulation, if the time is exceeded, the qualification for entering and leaving the community shall be cancelled.”
In short, only one family member per household is allowed to venture out every two days for supplies. Any violation of rules means this privilege can be revoked.
For those lucky enough to get some fresh air, they better be prepared to walk, as train and bus services in cities across the province have been totally cancelled.
The news isn’t all bad — kids who may have been dreading school now have an extended break to look forward to thanks to mass cancellation of classes.
The latest news out of China should serve as further proof that strict lockdowns fail to provide 100 percent protection against outbreaks, and come with the added horror of the destruction of basic rights.
If it isn’t clear, what’s been happening in China should be a warning for American leaders, not a playbook.
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