{"id":9163,"date":"2020-02-05T23:53:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T07:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=9163"},"modified":"2020-02-10T03:43:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T11:43:46","slug":"issue-of-the-week-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=9163","title":{"rendered":"Issue of the Week: Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coronavirus Deaths Surpass SARS<\/em>, The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

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Yesterday, the front page of The New York Times featured an article about Coronavirus deaths having surpassed the SARS virus, also originating in China, in 2002 and 2003.<\/p>\n

Lengthy in-depth briefings are ongoing.<\/p>\n

And two more articles, in Der Spiegel in Berlin, yesterday (the cover article from the February 1, 2020 magazine), and in\u00a0National Geographic tomorrow, just posted.<\/p>\n

Excellent and chilling all, which will follow.<\/p>\n

There’s been no shortage of headlines in all media world-wide on this issue.<\/p>\n

Even in the middle of one of the most eventful weeks imaginable already.<\/p>\n

Which is really the point. We’ll return to this week’s other issues as they unfold further. But the point here is that the Coronavirus issue represents a larger story that is increasingly with us in the one world we are in, increasingly borderless no matter how much borders are invoked.<\/p>\n

Disease in the one-world era may well turn out to be the biggest threat to the human species and to life on earth, in part because lack of global governance, cooperation, preparation and infrastructure to match the facts on the ground of a one world reality–again, not an ideology, but a functional reality.<\/p>\n

Last week, after the virus had spread from China to a total of 24 countries, the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus an international public health emergency. The first case in the US was here in Seattle, brought by plane from China.<\/p>\n

As the article below in Der Spiegel pointedly summarizes:<\/p>\n

The story of the coronavirus is about more than just medicine and China. It is a lesson on the increasing interdependence \u2013 and the political, economic and social dimensions \u2013 of today’s world. It is a story about the globalization of danger.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is likely to get much worse before it gets better. But whether it’s this story or the next threat of global pandemic, the end point will be<\/em> the end at some point, unless global reality, global governance, global cooperation, global equality and global sustainability converge.<\/p>\n

Here are the articles:<\/p>\n

“Beijing Sees \u2018Major Test\u2019 as Doors to China Close and Coronavirus Deaths Surpass SARS”<\/a><\/p>\n

By Sui-Lee Wee. Feb. 4, 2020, The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n

The number of dead is likely to grow as the tally of confirmed infections surges by more than 2,000 every day. \u201cThere\u2019s no sign that it\u2019s getting better,\u201d said a health expert.<\/em><\/p>\n

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China\u2019s Communist Party leadership called the month-old coronavirus epidemic a \u201cmajor test\u201d on Monday as other nations escalated efforts to isolate China, unnerving China\u2019s stock market, depressing global oil prices and raising new anxiety about the world\u2019s most populous country.<\/p>\n

The growing global move to effectively cut off China\u2019s 1.4 billion people came as government officials reported the new coronavirus strain had killed more in mainland China, 425 as of Tuesday morning, than the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003, confirming it as one of the deadliest epidemics in recent Chinese history.<\/p>\n

Many leading infectious disease experts say the outbreak is likely to become a pandemic<\/a>, defined as an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents, and that stringent anti-contagion restrictions may have come too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no sign that it\u2019s getting better,\u201d said Leo Poon, division head of the public health laboratory sciences department at the University of Hong Kong. \u201cWe don\u2019t see a pattern of decline, and that\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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President Xi Jinping of China called on Monday for all officials to make reducing the number of infections and deaths a top priority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak<\/h2>\n

The virus has sickened more than 40,500 people in China and 24 other countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Xi presided over a meeting of senior Communist Party leaders at which they acknowledged shortcomings in policies on public health and emergency management, according to a report by China\u2019s official news agency. The leaders called the coronavirus epidemic \u201ca major test of China\u2019s system and capacity for governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as saying that officials who resist orders and \u201clack boldness\u201d could be punished \u2014 suggesting that at least some regions in China may have balked at devoting resources and personnel to stopping the contagion.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, China had 20,438 cases, the government said on Tuesday morning, and more than 160 cases have been diagnosed in two dozen other countries, including 11 in the United States. During the SARS outbreak, China had 349 deaths and 5,327 cases, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Government figures show that confirmed coronavirus infections are surging by more than 2,000 daily.<\/p>\n\"Funeral<\/picture>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Funeral home workers removing a body of a person who died in a home in Wuhan on Saturday. It was unclear whether the deceased had contracted the coronavirus.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Chinatopix, via Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Some deaths still go unreported, and many residents in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in central Hubei Province, say they believe the true number of deaths across China may be higher than the official tally, because many of the ill have been turned away by overstretched hospitals<\/a>. Several residents said they had heard of people dying at home.<\/p>\n

(THE LATEST ON THE OUTBREAK:\u00a0Daily updates on the coronavirus<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The commonly accepted need for isolating suspected cases collided with anger, confusion and recrimination between China and other governments.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the United States, there were scenes of uncertainty<\/a> at the few airports still permitted to receive flights from China, as the first federally required quarantine since the smallpox era a half century ago took effect.<\/p>\n

Russia, which shares a 2,600-mile border with China, suspended all passenger-rail links. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte exhorted citizens to \u201cstop this xenophobia thing\u201d amid signs there were acts of discrimination against people of Chinese descent.<\/p>\n

The government of Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous territory that is part of China, closed four border crossings to the Chinese mainland, leaving just three, as more than 2,400 Hong Kong medical workers went on strike to press for a total ban on mainland arrivals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Many airlines have suspended flights to China<\/a>, and governments have barred Chinese travelers<\/a> or anyone who has traveled recently to China, despite the World Health Organization\u2019s statement that the closure of international borders was unnecessary. The United States has recommended that Americans put off travel to China.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Wearing protective masks in Hong Kong on Monday. Hong Kong\u2019s government said it would close four more border crossing points with mainland China, leaving three.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Billy H.C. Kwok for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, criticized the American response, adding that, \u201cthe U.S. government has not provided any substantive help to the Chinese side yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an online news briefing, Ms. Hua noted that the United States was \u201cthe first to withdraw its consulate staff from Wuhan, the first to suggest the partial withdrawal of embassy staff and the first to announce a ban on entry by Chinese citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the U.S. has done could create and spread panic,\u201d Ms. Hua said.<\/p>\n

But in China itself, millions of people who were working in Hubei Province have been stopped from returning to their home areas<\/a>, feared as potential carriers of the disease and treated as outcasts. Even those without symptoms are being ostracized.<\/p>\n

Last week, the American health and human services secretary, Alex Azar, said that he had offered to send a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to China to help with the coronavirus outbreak<\/a>, adding that he had reiterated the offer several times.<\/p>\n

With the C.D.C. already running through its allocations for emergency response funds, the Department of Health and Human Services informed Congress that it may transfer up to $136 million to help combat the spread of coronavirus, according to a person with knowledge of the notification.<\/p>\n

(GHOSTLY BEIJING:\u00a0China\u2019s capital, far from the contagion epicenter, seems empty.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Even as Chinese officials tried to reassure their own public that shortages of medical supplies were being addressed, and that food prices were stable, the spillover effects of China\u2019s isolation reverberated through the Chinese stock market, which had been closed since Jan. 23 for the Lunar New Year holiday. Investors confronting the prospect that the world\u2019s No. 2 economy could suffer severe constraints sent stock prices tumbling by 8 percent.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In a note to clients, Tai Hui, J.P. Morgan\u2019s chief market strategist in Asia, wrote that, \u201cAs the number of infections is still likely to rise in the weeks ahead, we would expect the Chinese onshore equity market to come under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The anxiety also infected global energy markets, where the possibility of falling demand from a hobbled China \u2014 the world\u2019s biggest importer of oil \u2014 sent prices to the lowest level in more than a year. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as Russia, agreed to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday about possible production cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Wuhan, ailing residents have been begging for beds at local hospitals. Overwhelmed doctors have run out of medical supplies<\/a>. In response, the Wuhan government announced that two new hospitals were to be built within weeks. The first hospital, with 1,000 beds, opened Monday after it was built in just eight days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Construction of the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan on Sunday. The facility, with 1,000 beds, opened on Monday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It was unclear whether the daily surge in infections is at least partly a result of more test kits being delivered, making it hard to determine how fast the virus is spreading. But even as the death toll has risen, the number of people who have recovered has also climbed in recent days, suggesting that the fatality rate of the virus is relatively low.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Chinese National Health Commission reported on Sunday that there had been 475 recoveries. In Hubei, 80 patients were pronounced recovered on Sunday, while 56 died that day. On Saturday, 49 patients were released from hospitals, and 45 died.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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China has sealed off several of its cities<\/a>, including Wuhan, restricted public gatherings and quarantined some communities. Many cities have been brought to a virtual standstill as residents have been told to stay at home and schools and offices remain shut.<\/p>\n

Although many Chinese cities have extended the Lunar New Year holiday to combat the spread of the disease, public health experts say the virus is still likely to spread, given how infectious it is and the large number of travelers expected to commute for work.<\/p>\n

The geographical extent of the disease is reminiscent of that of SARS, with cases reported in at least 25 countries, amplifying fears that the virus could spread across the world.<\/p>\n

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A shopping area in Wuhan on Monday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Reporting was contributed by Austin Ramzy, Alexandra Stevenson, Steven Lee Myers, Chris Buckley, Amy Qin, Anton Troianovski, Paul Mozur, Vivian Wang, Emily Cochrane, Tess Felder, Jason Gutierrez, Stanley Reed, Richard P\u00e9rez-Pe\u00f1a and Rick Gladstone.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“Deaths in China Rise, With No Sign of Slowdown”<\/a><\/p>\n

Daily briefing, Feb. 5, 2020,\u00a0The New York Times<\/p>\n

Hyundai is suspending production in South Korea amid supply chain problems linked to the coronavirus, and Japan quarantined a cruise ship where 10 infections were found.<\/em><\/p>\n

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