Photo from USA Today
For a couple of months now, I’ve been reading everyone’s posts about conspiracy theories and comments. I even have one ex-classmate who is now trying to get voted into the MN House of Reps. I see all these comments from him and others who state, “We wouldn’t be in this mess if China hadn’t covered up the outbreak for MONTHS!”, “They fired the doctors who discovered the virus!”, “They arrested the doctor who was the whistle-blower!”. It is my OPINION that people believe these statements as an excuse for why Trump hasn't done a better job.
It seems like any time I post FACTS, I get blasted. For whatever reason, people (who have known me since I was a kid) seem to think that if I speak out against MY president or state facts about how things went down in China, I’m defending Xi Jinping or supporting the CCP. This is not the case. I give an opinion about MY president. Someone commented that I have “quite a bit of venom for our president”. I do not. I have posted twice, one was actual quotes he had said starting on January 22, one day after the US had its first confirmed case in Washington State. The second post was a passionate vent by actor Michael Rapaport, which I found funny. I do not have venom for our president. I do not support my president. I merely stated facts and a video made by someone else.
I am a guest in the country of China, which the majority of my friends before seven years ago, have never visited or lived in. Because I live in China, I have been following the evolution of the outbreak from the beginning. However, if I lived in Europe, Mexico, Japan or anywhere else, I would still be calling out MY president and I’d still be following the evolution of the virus and public information and trying to weed out untruths and conspiracy theories, as well as people who are spreading misinformation. Of course there is media bias, and each country tries to control their own narrative. I am not oblivious nor naïve to this.
Here is a timeline of the Big China Cover-Up of COVID-19. I have gathered the timeline from multiple sources from the US, China, and Australia, WHO, CDC, The Lancet, as well as from my friend, the GM of the biggest international hospital in Guangzhou and former Epidemic Intelligence Services Officer of the CDC.
December 30 – Dr. Li Wenliang messaged in his WeChat group of former medical school classmates that he’d seen seven patients come in from a local wet market that had been diagnosed with a SARS-like illness. It was unknown and further research needed to be done. He told his friends to warn their loved ones. Later THAT day, the messages had gone viral with a screenshot of his messages. The Wuhan Police, the LOCAL police, accused Dr. Li of rumor-mongering. He and several medics were targeted by police for trying to blow the whistle on the deadly virus.
The SAME DAY, an emergency notice was issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission to inform medical institutions that seven patients associated with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market that there is an unknown pneumonia. They did state that organizations and individuals were “not allowed to release treatment information to the public without authorization.” (kind of like HIPAA?)
December 31 – In the early hours, Wuhan’s health authorities held an emergency meeting to discuss the outbreak. Later, Dr. Li was asked by officials at his hospital to explain how he knew about the cases. Later that day, Wuhan authorities announced the outbreak and alerted the WHO.
January 1 – Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was shut down for sanitary procedures and disinfection, as well taking environmental samples. The market is still shut down. The Wuhan police, not the CCP, announced it had taken “legal measures” against eight people who had “published and shared rumors online” about a pneumonia-like illness. A police statement went out on Weibo stating “fabricating, spreading rumors and disturbing social order will be punished by police according to the law, with zero tolerance.”
January 2 – Wuhan has 41 hospitalized with pneumonia, with two-thirds having been exposed to the wet market.
January 3 – Dr. Li was called to the local police station and reprimanded for “spreading rumors online and severely disrupting social order”. Dr. Li had stated in the messages that the seven patients’ tests showed the pathogen tested positive for the SARS virus with a high “confidence coefficient” but he also clarified in a subsequent message that it was actually a different type of coronavirus. However, it was the screenshot of his first message that went viral online. Dr. Li had to sign a statement acknowledging his misdemeanor and a promise to not commit further unlawful acts. He was allowed to leave the police station after one hour. He was not detained, nor did he lose his job (info taken from his interview with Beijing Youth Daily).
January 7 – Chinese scientists identify the pathogen as a new coronavirus, giving it the name as novel coronavirus. However, they still had not announced whether it was spread with human-to-human transmission, and for a week, did not report any new cases of infection.
January 20 – Somehow the number of infected jumped from 41 to 198.
January 21 – The U.S. announces its first confirmed case in Washington State.
January 23 – Wuhan is shut down. No travel into or out of the city is allowed, however five million people had already left Wuhan to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday.
January 24 – Hubei Province is locked down. All people in China across the nation must wear masks in public, have their temperature taken, businesses start to shutter.
January 27 – Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwent admits his government did not disclose information about the virus “in a timely fashion”. Under Chinese law, infectious diseases, the local government first needs to report the outbreak to national health authorities, then get approval from the State Council before making a public announcement. Beijing Youth Daily, a state-run newspaper, interviewed Dr. Li and the article went viral, sparking public outrage.
January 28 – China’s Supreme Court criticizes the Wuhan police for punishing the rumor-mongers.
January 29 – Wuhan police issues a statement saying the eight people committed “particularly minor” misdemeanors for spreading unverified information. The eight people were summoned for a talk and to sign statements and were not detained or fined. Nor did they lose their jobs.
January 30 – A temporary ban on wildlife trade in wet markets, supermarkets, restaurants and e-commerce takes effect. The WHO declares a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
January 31 – The White House announced, “enhanced entry screening at 5 airports”, however, when I arrived to SFO on February 2, they did not separate those arriving from China, nor were there any new entry screening procedures. In fact, I had a form I had filled out on the plane and immigration in the U.S. never asked for it. It sat in my bag for days. Please click on “The White House” link to read about this statement.
February 7 – Dr. Li died of the novel coronavirus, which caused outrage amongst Chinese citizens and the world. Social media posts from Chinese state media reported he died on February 6, but the posts were deleted. Later, the Wuhan Central Hospital contradicted reports of his death on February 6, and announced his death at 2:58am on February 7. His death sparked much grief and anger, as well as a demand for freedom of speech. However, the posts were removed by censors.
February 11 – The WHO announces the name for the virus: COVID-19 (CoronaVirus Disease 2019)
After months of dealing with the virus outbreak, research, etc., they are now questioning whether the first infected in Wuhan dates back to November. However, there is no confirmation yet. There is no scientific evidence that it was man made in a lab (in fact, many scientists have proven that is nearly impossible). There is no scientific evidence that it came from anywhere other than the Wuhan wet market. Read more about wet markets HERE for arguments on why they should and shouldn’t be banned.
I know that China covered up information. I know that things could have been different AND better. I’m not arguing that. What I am doing is trying to provide facts. It seems many post all this “they knew for months” and the result has been attacks and assaults against Asians all over the world. I truly believe that racism doesn’t just suddenly develop in people. I think people are using this virus as an excuse to exhibit what they’ve had in their hearts all along. It’s also happening here in China.
Foreigners are being discriminated against as people return to China and imported cases are now being confirmed, however 90% of the imported cases are from returning Chinese Nationals. Discrimination against foreigners is deeply misplaced. It happened to a couple of friends of mine just a couple of nights ago, where they were “banned” from entering bars because they are foreigners. I'm not sure what happened to the Chinese sentiment "We are not the virus". Well, neither are foreigners. It’s a terrible time across the globe right now. And posting conspiracy theories and racist comments, no matter where you’re from, is not helping to do what is most important: Stop the spread.
I’ve also seen conspiracy articles that China released the virus on purpose to take over the global economy. Maybe it’s true. It’s not unrealistic. However, unemployment increased by 20% in China, with 5 million workers losing jobs. China’s economy started tanking in early January with a 2-month lockdown and will continue a “double whammy” as the country’s export partners are now being forced to deal with the outbreak. Overseas demand has created an unknown drop. Here is an Opinion article you can read. Yes, it is an OPINION article, however there is more on this in the New York Times and CNBC. You would also like to believe that if it was spread globally on purpose, China would have had hospitals already in place and a vaccine ready so as not to affect its own economy. But China relied heavily on workers and volunteers to build two hospitals in less than two weeks. Volunteers are still being used for the 14-day quarantine measures in place for incoming travelers.
There is also a lot of terrible information being spread in China: The U.S. is to blame, Italy is to blame. Finger pointing is happening and it's just fueling anger. Obviously, I don't believe any of these claims. I would find it very hard to believe that any country would set off a virus that collapses their own economy and kills thousands of people. Unfortunately, many people listen to what their own media and politicians put out there without verifying facts.
I don’t know how many times I have to reiterate it. People are not the sums of their governments. I think it’s pretty clear that I am not a fan of Trump. However, it doesn’t mean I believe all Americans are bad because he’s our leader. That would mean I am also a terrible person because my president is incompetent. And I’m certainly not going to hold a bunch of perfectly nice Chinese people responsible for what their government has or has not done.
For what it’s worth, you have a right to disagree with everything or a small part of what I’ve just written and you also have a right to delete or block me from Facebook. I have already deleted about 2,000 Facebook “friends”. If you are offended by this in any way, please delete me. I respect that. That’s what the function is for. If you’d like to have a respectful debate about it, I respect that too. I am very open to listening to and considering other points of view. If you have found other information that discredits what I’ve written, I welcome the corrections. However, if you are disrespectful to Americans as a whole, or Asians/Chinese as a whole, or any other race, religion or sex, I will delete you.
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