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Just when it seemed like we were closer to being done with the Covid pandemic, China is once again experiencing a surge in Covid infections not seen since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago and they’re taking drastic steps to stop the new wave.
According to The New York Times, several of China’s factories have ordered lockdowns, along with theaters, cinemas and many restaurants in Shanghai, as Omicron infections have more than quintupled in recent days from their seven-day average which now stands at 1,584. Though China can’t afford to go through another complete shutdown as it did when the pandemic first began two years ago, they are taking some pretty intense steps to avoid another wave of infections.
“China’s virus containment strategy is focused on moving quickly to lock down buildings or neighborhoods. In response to even a single case, officials may seal all the entrances to a store, office building or even convention center. Everyone inside must then stay there for up to several days as they are tested for the coronavirus and sent into isolation if their results are positive.”
“In Shanghai, many foreign-owned businesses stockpiled mattresses last week in case their employees were trapped in their factories or their offices this week. Multinationals there then told their employees to work from home this week.”
While these seem pretty extreme given how relaxed the U.S. response to the omicron variant has been, it’s nothing compared to how Chinese authorities were allegedly caught on video basically kidnapping citizens who they thought were infected with Covid in 2018 and placing them in quarantine against their will. It was crazy. Still, everyone is doing what they can to stop the spread of the extra contagious omicron variant.
“Shenzhen, a vast metropolis of nearly 20 million people that is China’s tech center and adjacent to Hong Kong, locked down residents on Sunday night. It stopped buses and subways and ordered businesses to close except for supermarkets, farmers’ markets, pharmacies, medical institutions and the port, which is one of the world’s largest.”
This pandemic just feels like it’ll never end. At least the omicron variant isn’t as deadly as the Delta variant, but still, it’s a problem.