The WHO chartered something called the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, and yesterday they released their second report. It's not too long, so I read the whole thing to judge for myself how bad the headlines are. Here's my summary of its contents:

  • The whole world was totally unprepared

  • Measurements like the Global Health Security Index turned out to be bullshit

  • Social media has created an infodemic

  • Inequalities everywhere have been exacerbated

  • Poorer countries are unjustly being left without access to PPE and vaccines

  • Precarious and informal workers in wealthy countries are suffering disproportionately

  • "Public health containment measures should have been implemented immediately in any country with a likely case. They were not."

  • Some countries (unnamed) sacrificed public health and lives to make the line go up

  • Overall, the Asia-Pacific countries and the Africa CDC have been doing a decent job

  • The global supply chain is weak

  • The WHO should have used the term "pandemic" sooner than March

  • The WHO is underfunded and forced to waste too much time fundraising

Also buried in the report is this single criticism of China:

Public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January.

Guess which parts the Western media chose to focus on?

Business Insider: An elite panel of world leaders has called out China for its bungled coronavirus response

CNN: China and WHO acted too slowly to contain Covid-19, says independent panel

Forbes: China, World Health Organization Failed To Act Quickly At The Start Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Report Finds

The Week: Independent panel slams China and WHO over Covid-19 response

AP: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic

Sydney Morning Herald: 'Signal was ignored': Independent inquiry criticises China and WHO over COVID

Seattle Times: Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic

Remember when the imperialist media was criticizing China for acting too aggressively and authoritarian with its lockdowns? Lmao

  • _else [she/her,they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    so to quote another reply to me:

    at the beginning of the pandemic in Wuhan, local officials&doctors downplayed covid (and fudged the numbers probably) to probably avoid a negative response and/or punishment from the central government.

    some of whom were jailed for trying to blow the whistle any organization that does this should be named and shamed. fuck them.

    and then go to the SECOND HALF of my comment.

    • TankieTanuki [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      You're probably referring to the Dr. Li saga. There was a lot of misinformation about that.

      https://i.imgur.com/pcok0nE.jpg

      Dr. Li Wenliang was an ophthalmologist working at a hospital in Wuhan that was seeing an influx of patients at the very start of the pandemic, before people knew it was a new disease. He didn't treat viral pneumonia because that wasn't his specialty, but he could tell that something was wrong. The hospital knew something was wrong too, so they contacted the WHO and sent viral samples out to laboratories for identification. He knew he was in the middle of something big. He texted a few of his friends from medical school that his hospital had treated seven patients with a SARS-like disease originating from the same seafood market in Wuhan. He also told them to keep it to themselves because he didn't want to start a panic.

      The next day (2019-12-31) the laboratory results came back, and the Chinese government and the WHO made an announcement that the outbreak was a novel virus. But Dr. Li's friends had already spread the news around town, and police were already investigating the rumor. Three days after the discovery of the virus was announced, the local police in Wuhan contacted Dr. Li and charged him with creating a public disturbance. He was like "Are you stupid? The government just announced that the virus is real! How can I it be a crime if I told the truth?" And the police said "Look, buddy, I don't know about no science because I'm just a meathead cop. But I do know that it's not your job to make public health announcements like that, real or not." And the cop charged him with "making false comments on the internet", which carried a $75 fine. But they dropped the fine in exchange for him signing a letter saying "I pwomise not to do it ever again." And he posted a photo of it to the internet, saying "lol look at this dumb shit they made me sign just for saying something that turned out to be true" 🙄.

      He was understandably pissed off. He went back to work at the hospital the next day. Three days, he was seeing an eye patient who had COVID but didn't know about it, and he was infected. At this point in time (2020-01-06) still no one had died from COVID. The first COVID death occurred on 2020-01-11. At about that time, Dr. Li started showing symptoms, and he died about a month later. Then two months after that, the Wuhan police issued a retraction and publicly apologized for charging Dr Li with a crime, and they said they punished the cop who charged him. That's it. That's the Great Chinese Corona Cover-Up. Every time you see an American politician talking about how China must be held accountable for covering up the virus, that's the substance they're referring to. People were saying all sorts of crazy shit like the Chinese government purposefully killed him with COVID, or disappeared him, etc.

      Apparently China passed a new law to protect whistleblowers like him in the future, but as you can tell from the timeline of events, Dr. Li didn't slow down or speed up the response to the virus, and he wasn't blowing the whistle on any administrative wrongdoing. He was punished (wrongly) for making comments at a time when things were already unfolding quickly and transparently, and he was on the sidelines of the events.

      and then go to the SECOND HALF of my comment.

      Yes, I understood and agreed with the second half of your comment.

      • _else [she/her,they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        also, wihle I recognize western media spouts bullshit propaganda about their capitalist cousins to the east, I don't trust literally any positive thing I hear about mainland china from this website, unless its about, like, culture (food/architecture/music/etc) or good hiking spots or something. there are a lot of people who are uncritically that, and it very much bothers me. its like some weird mirror of reddit, and its super annoying that I can't find good honest sources.

        BUT on this, after a quick web search; there was at least one named journalist and at least one named doctor who were arrested for it. references to others, but I didn't see names. cut the shit. no government with billionaires is worth this kind of uncritical loyalty.

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          there was at least one named journalist and at least one named doctor who were arrested for it.

          Far be it from me to question your quick web search skills, but what were the names?

          no government with billionaires is worth this kind of uncritical loyalty.

          I'm willing to criticize China, I just need more substance than "I read some article but I don't remember" before I do so.

          • _else [she/her,they/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            dr li wenliang (arrested, not just fined, then died of it), along with multiple articles referencing as many as nine unnamed others, and zhang zhan for pointing out that they did that and taking video of the cover up in early stages before they properly locked down. which, to be fair, they DID eventually do.

            but I'm quite done here. I don't have confidence you can engage in good faith on this subject, or any where your favorite oppressive capitalist shithole is involved, and if I wanted to deal with this shit I'd go to r/sino.

              • _else [she/her,they/them]
                ·
                4 years ago

                couple articles I saw about liang referenced others who were arrested for the same thing, and he was arrested for it. plus it took a whistleblower before people got their shit together.

                id be willing to believe the whistleblower bridged the gap between scared intimidated local officials trying to not be murdered for causing a problem and the national folks who realized "oh shit, this is a problem" and then they punished her because WTF else is one supposed to do to messengers when you've got a stratified power structure and illusion of a competent benevolent state to maintain?

                • TankieTanuki [he/him]
                  ·
                  4 years ago

                  couple articles I saw about liang referenced others who were arrested for the same thing

                  I'd be interested to see those.

                  and he was arrested for it.

                  Yes, but charges were dropped and he never spend a minute in jail.

                  plus it took a whistleblower before people got their shit together.

                  Patently untrue. Refer to the timeline.

                  local officials trying to not be murdered for causing a problem

                  :what: :bruh-moment:

              • _else [she/her,they/them]
                ·
                4 years ago

                yeah thats pretty close to what I spotted on a quick google; im just so burnt out on pro-chinese-government shit in leftist spaces.

                also saw references to 7-9 'others' in multiple articles about liang. varying numbers isn't great, but there's not a lot of space to find truth between western propaganda and chinese secrecy.