"I’m reading things from friends of mine in Beijing, and 80 to 90 percent of the people they know already have COVID. If that figure is transferred to elderly people it’s just going to be a catastrophe." https://prospect.org/world/what-now-for-china-kurlantzick-interview/

"several models predict that a half million people could die, possibly more." h/t @stephenjudkins https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/15/1143002538/china-appears-to-be-facing-what-could-be-the-world-s-largest-coronavirus-outbrea

really fucking bad https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/world/asia/china-covid-hospital-crisis.html

@ryanlcooper no wonder Chinese officials were trying so hard to contain the virus. They buckled under public pressure to ease restrictions, but thankfully there are plenty of tested vaccines and treatments now. Won’t look anything like early breakouts in the US and other countries that refused to shut down

@organizingpower my understanding is that the chinese vaccines are far less effective

@whetstone @organizingpower
And for seemingly (almost certainly) political reasons, China refuses to utilize western vaccines

@Randall @organizingpower it’s really disturbing how Chinese leadership has decided that politics is more important than their peoples’ lives

@Randall @whetstone lmao at the idea that China—which has been lambasted by US corporate media for the past 2 years for doing universal testing and shutdowns—is putting “politics above people’s lives”

@whetstone @Randall Fauci went on national TV in May 2020 and said there was no reason for people to wear masks, and you have the gall to accuse the Chinese govt of not caring about lives? Get fucked buddy

@organizingpower @whetstone @Randall uh huh https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/world/asia/Li-Wenliang-china-coronavirus.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

@organizingpower @whetstone @Randall I’m sure they jailed people for trying to draw attention to the original outbreak for humanitarian reasons

@whetstone @Randall @adamgurri the US has over 1,100,000 deaths under Fauci’s watch, while China has under 5,000–despite having 4x the population. Are you dense?

@adamgurri @Randall @whetstone also lol at “jailing people”—as if the US isn’t the prison capital of the world

@organizingpower @Randall @whetstone Does American mass incarceration make it a good idea, or a not-politically-motivated one, to jail people for pointing out there's an outbreak of a new disease?

@adamgurri @Randall @whetstone I love the underlying premise of your question—that America’s mass incarceration isn’t politically motivated. I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I’m not going to defend everything China does. But the US are the real baddies in the world, not China.

@organizingpower @Randall @whetstone that’s not the premise of anything I’ve said :) anyway, the Uyghurs thank you for your zealous defense of the Chinese dictatorship

@Randall @whetstone @adamgurri the thousands of children locked in cages and separated from their families thank you for zealous defense of the American regime

@organizingpower @Randall @whetstone I know that your only move is to deflect any criticism of China by criticizing America, but if you had read any of the words I actually said, you'd note I never actually tried to defend America at any point. I simply asked you to take ownership of your defense of China. Recall you thought the idea that they made COVID decisions politically to be absurd. Do you still defend that position?

@whetstone @adamgurri @Randall yes, it’s totally absurd to suggest that China has been politically motivated in “Covid decisions,” at least compared to every other country on earth. There are plenty of valid criticisms of China, but (unlike the US) they have moved heaven and earth to protect their people from Covid and they should be applauded for that.

@organizingpower @whetstone @adamgurri moving heaven and earth, but no western vaccines

@whetstone @adamgurri @Randall ohhh is the US allowing Chinese vaccines? Can I go to CVS or Walgreens and get a Sinopharm vaccine??

@Randall @whetstone @adamgurri I’m sorry I didn’t hear an answer for why, in a “free market” society, I should be prohibited from taking the Sinopharm vaccine. Wonder why I can’t. Must be a “political” decision to protect the profits of US pharmaceutical companies

@organizingpower @whetstone @adamgurri

@Randall @whetstone @adamgurri lol ok, so China is bad for not buying US vaccines, but US can block Chinese vaccines bc something something China bad. Got it!