As seen in above video, Chinese law enforcement is really dead serious about the coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention and containment. If you read Chinese, you’ve probably figured out the exercise in the video is treated as a “counterterrorism drill” as the Chinese characters read in the blue sign.
I know how heightened the security is in every Chinese community, large and small, from residential complexes to public places such as schools, office buildings and banks. Security guards and staffers hold up thermometer guns to test body temperature of every individual at the entrances to these places. One of my friends in China said jokingly that everyone had to be “gunned” (test body temperature) so many times a day, they were about to “gun down” (tired out) from the daily repetition.
I doubt the US law enforcement will follow suit, especially under the current administration which sends false messages on a daily basis. In hindsight, I’m glad that COVID-19 outbreak did not start in the US. Local US governments are scrambling to prepare as many test kits as possible. The test kit has three components, two of which test for the novel coronavirus and a third for a host of other viruses. In addition, the US needs more thermometer guns in place.
If the US federal government would regard COVID-19 outbreak the way American authorities regard a real-life mass shooting, perhaps the high-ranking officials will not be so careless in handling public information. Almost always, the US law enforcement will lock down a whole community after a hot fire mass shooting. Will authorities take the same precaution for COVID-19? Will they exercise a drill the way China does to prepare for the worst?
Although I wonder if China’s top-down mandate to control COVID-19 will lead to the abuse of law enforcement, I also worry about the Trump Administration’s overly-confident attitude toward uncontained coronavirus precaution.
To some extent, mismanagement of public health is scarier than political malpractice. Either reason causes the loss of public trust. And yet, the mismanagement of public health can be fatal.
I want to end with a quote by a Chinese interviewee in Howard French’s book, China’s Second Continent. He said, “China is a bit freer now but still not altogether free. You can’t compare it with Western countries. But at the same time, most Western people probably have the wrong idea about life in China. They think that whatever you do, the Chinese Communist Party is following you around, ready to arrest you. It’s like our ideas about America. We think everybody has a gun in their pocket, and there’s danger everywhere. . . . the news just focuses on the negative. It’s the same with the way Americans think about China. It’s also the same Chinese people think about Americans. Our news always accentuates the negative.”
I’d add the news in China and in the US accentuates the negative about the other. Perhaps that’s why my Chinese friends often ask if America is safe because of the often-reported mass shootings.
Now, in the past weeks, I’ve been asked if America is safe because the spread of coronavirus in the US is uncontained and the thermometer guns are running short. How should I explain?
Click here for CDC prevention guide for COVID-19 outbreaks.
Click here for my afterthought of China’s Second Continent.
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