Well my anecdotal observation was that the population themselves knew the drill.
The second they heard "SARS" they didn't need government permission to social distance or wear masks.
My in-laws stayed put and didn't see relatives over CNY. That is madness, imagine trying to cancel Christmas in Europe.
There were rule breakers and people who found lockdown difficult and in those instances the CCP tool kit was more adapted to crushing those types of responses:
Roads leaving Wuhan were literally dug up, the govt had a surveillance network already operational, and non Wuhan people were encouraged/happy to snitch on people who left Wuhan during the lockdown and its run up and get them sent back.
Meanwhile outside of Wuhan, everyone also knew the drill. Before there were even double digit case numbers (detected) in other places, everyone knew to stay in. In policy setting, I'm told a single man is effectively calling the shots wrt the epidemiological response: Zhong Nanshan who is accepted in Asia as being the granddaddy of SARS
This is markedly different from my observations of how it progressed in the "Western" world. It has been surreal to see Italy, France, Spain, UK, US and now possibly NZ + AUS follow similar progressions one by one after each other.
In the UK, most people have been waiting for authority to tell them what to do, but the government themselves are indecisive and keep trying to place their faith in "evidence based" science - common sense be damned. Having watched this all play out being right but late is almost useless and this debate over mask usage is ridiculous.
Meanwhile the NHS is covered in so much red tape that PPE and testing can't reach the frontline staff even when companies are trying to put them in their hands.
Even China ended up resorting to dressing medical staff in plastic bags and reusing single-use masks, from what I can tell - there are pictures out there and everything - and they had the advantage of being able to redirect a huge chunk of the world's supply of PPE into tackling an outbreak concentrated in a single city. The really substantial difference in China is that the press there isn't allowed to run article after article accusing the national government of trying to kill their medical staff, not that they're more competent. (Also, the official Chinese government line is that infections of medical staff happened due to exposure outside the workplace, and there's likely some truth to that from what other countries have seen.)
> Meanwhile the NHS is covered in so much red tape that PPE and testing can't reach the frontline staff even when companies are trying to put them in their hands.
I don't think it's NHS red tape so much as the government being bloody incompetent. They think they can rule by decree and have that shower down helpfully on the minions. Nope, you've got to get your hands dirty. I'm not impressed.
> and now possibly NZ + AUS follow similar progressions
Where are you getting this from? All reports I have read show that NZ and Aus governments/people have acted quickly and effectively, and new infections are low in both countries.
Lockdown was in effect 2 days before, starting with January 23rd, not "weeks before". Some people in Wuhan knew about the virus weeks or even months before this (start of December), that is correct.
Yeah in and out of Wuhan. I came across the term "Wuhan Lung" a couple of weeks before CNY and it was affecting people as far away as in Thailand and a family friend caught it in Dubai around Jan 6th (and has since been tested for antibodies)
The second they heard "SARS" they didn't need government permission to social distance or wear masks.
My in-laws stayed put and didn't see relatives over CNY. That is madness, imagine trying to cancel Christmas in Europe.
There were rule breakers and people who found lockdown difficult and in those instances the CCP tool kit was more adapted to crushing those types of responses:
Roads leaving Wuhan were literally dug up, the govt had a surveillance network already operational, and non Wuhan people were encouraged/happy to snitch on people who left Wuhan during the lockdown and its run up and get them sent back.
Meanwhile outside of Wuhan, everyone also knew the drill. Before there were even double digit case numbers (detected) in other places, everyone knew to stay in. In policy setting, I'm told a single man is effectively calling the shots wrt the epidemiological response: Zhong Nanshan who is accepted in Asia as being the granddaddy of SARS
This is markedly different from my observations of how it progressed in the "Western" world. It has been surreal to see Italy, France, Spain, UK, US and now possibly NZ + AUS follow similar progressions one by one after each other.
In the UK, most people have been waiting for authority to tell them what to do, but the government themselves are indecisive and keep trying to place their faith in "evidence based" science - common sense be damned. Having watched this all play out being right but late is almost useless and this debate over mask usage is ridiculous.
Meanwhile the NHS is covered in so much red tape that PPE and testing can't reach the frontline staff even when companies are trying to put them in their hands.