Coronavirus Country Report: CHINA

By Alexa Christopherson

Since the coronavirus pandemic first originated in Wuhan there have been 467K total Coronavirus Cases, 86,619 of them from China. Given the fact that the virus first originated here, many successful precautions were put in play to stop the spread, leading the country to currently only have 279 active cases and sadly 4,634 deaths.

Their public healthcare system “Urban-Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance” has been developing since the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, and has improved greatly. There is now the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which commenced after SARS in 2002 as well. The goal of the CDC is to delay and perhaps even terminate the spread of disease.

Surprisingly, China’s economy rose by 4.9% showing that with a stable government rapid economic rebound is feasible. The country even passed it’s report from last year, while most other countries’ economies are depleting and plummeting. Aiding China’s economic growth during a pandemic, was the fact that businesses opened less than 3 months into the lockdown. Wuhan was the initial city to lock down stores, restaurants, and most businesses, forcing to cease all personal encounters, starting on January 23 2020, leaving the city’s population of 11 million confined to the isolation of their own home. Even though the country is still ordered to quarantine,  the official lockdown was lifted on April 8, allowing corporations to open back up and rebuild their losses.

Not only were businesses affected but also people’s daily lives, it started with masks and social distancing which led to hazmat suits and temperature checks, both were far from our normal. The culture of society rapidly changed and human interaction was looked at as a threat. The rising generation of youth were forced to receive an education fully online,  causing disassociation from peers and teachers. After a few months of remote learning the school systems opened back up, little by little, under the conditions such as security of the school’s gate, inspections of dormitories and classrooms, sanitization, and daily disinfection.

Not only was society’s culture impacted by the virus, but so was politics. It’s given that China and the rest of the world was in a war against this virus, but what was not apparent was that China was also in a blame game with the United States. On the USA’s side of this battle almost 80% of American citizens put the fault of the global pandemic on China’s approach to ridding the disease. Opposing this is that China has been completely serialized and almost entirely decontaminated from the virus.

Continuing into the future could present serious issues such as an upcoming rivalry between the two countries because of the rising tension, but altercation with the United States or not, it is clearly evident that even though China’s lockdown has been lifted, the country (predominantly Wuhan) will still live with the feelings of isolation from the rest of the world.

Moving forward the country hopes to release a vaccine preventing and bringing immunity to the disease, it is anticipated that it will be developed by the end of 2021, possibly even sooner.