Over 100 Million Chinese Forced Back Into Lockdown As Country Fails to Contain Spread
Things don’t seem to be going so well in China, where the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus originated. Over 100 million people are now back on lockdown in the communist nation.
Here’s what’s up, via Bloomberg:
Some 108 million people in China’s northeast region are being plunged back under lockdown conditions as a new and growing cluster of infections causes a backslide in the nation’s return to normal.
Advertisement - story continues belowIn an abrupt reversal of the re-opening taking place across the nation, cities in Jilin province have cut off trains and buses, shut schools and quarantined tens of thousands of people. The strict measures have dismayed many residents who had thought the worst of the nation’s epidemic was over.
CONTINUED:
People “are feeling more cautious again,” said Fan Pai, who works at a trading company in Shenyang, a city in nearby Liaoning province that’s also facing renewed restrictions. “Children playing outside are wearing masks again” and health care workers are walking around in protective gear, she said. “It’s frustrating because you don’t know when it will end.”
While the cluster of 34 infections isn’t growing as quickly the outbreak in Wuhan which started the global pandemic last December, China’s swift and powerful reaction reflects its fear of a second wave after it curbed the virus’s spread at great economic and social cost. It’s also a sign of how fragile the re-opening process will be in China and elsewhere as even the slightest hint of a resurgence of infections could prompt a return to strict lockdown.
Take a quick break from coronavirus hysteria and check this tweet out…
Michael Jordan has unsuccessfully tried to sell his Chicago area home for the last eight years. It started at $29 million. It is now listed for $14,855,000.
1+4+8+5+5 = 23 pic.twitter.com/YwwpREwU0h
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 18, 2020
And here’s more COVID-19 randomness, via Twitter…
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1262577580718395393
BREAKING: Trump administration is preparing to EXTEND border and travel restrictions related to the coronavirus…
DO YOU SUPPORT THIS DECISION?
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) May 19, 2020
BREAKING: Trump threatens to permanently cut off W.H.O. funding, withdraw U.S. membership, amid coronavirus pandemic https://t.co/8KmxvZjX7z
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 19, 2020
Not only did Fredo break quarantine, get into a fight with a cyclist, and lie about it, but his wife also used bleach in her bathwater as a treatment for coronavirus https://t.co/8aetCXG1JJ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 19, 2020
Trump says he is taking hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug he has promoted as a potential treatment against the coronavirus, despite the FDA’s warning about its use https://t.co/898uFts9mJ pic.twitter.com/exOwR5RW82
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 19, 2020
These identical quadruplets born at Texas hospital at the start of the coronavirus pandemic are heading home. 💕 pic.twitter.com/UM02D0rLP4
— People (@people) May 19, 2020
Reported US coronavirus cases on date:
Feb. 18: 15 cases
Mar. 18: 8,736 cases
Apr. 18: 734,969 cases
May 18: 1,508,308 cases— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) May 19, 2020
Reported US coronavirus deaths:
80 days ago: 0 deaths
70 days ago: 26 deaths
60 days ago: 195 deaths
50 days ago: 2,425 deaths
40 days ago: 14,817 deaths
30 days ago: 38,903 deaths
20 days ago: 58,356 deaths
10 days ago: 77,179 deaths
Right now: 90,347 deaths— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) May 19, 2020