Daniel Wagner

Opinion | Coronavirus response: US flails while China goes from strength to strength

The absence of consistency and common sense from the US stands in sharp contrast to the experience of other countries

China’s success, through rapid response, mass testing, surveillance and use of big data, provides a blueprint for disaster management

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A medical worker collects a sample for nucleic acid Covid-19 testing in Shufu county, Kashgar Prefecture, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on October 26. Rapid, widespread testing of residents has been one of the building blocks of China’s successful approach to containing the pandemic. Photo: Xinhua

Daniel Wagner

Published: 9:15am, 1 Nov 2020Updated: 9:43am, 1 Nov 2020

Many Western governments continue to agonise over how to respond effectively to Covid-19. Proponents of free speech and movement continue to resist their governments’ attempts to craft and enforce national strategies to conduct a war against the pandemic.

In the US, state governments’ ability to create policies that apply only to their citizens and sometimes conflict with neighbouring states or federal guidelines often end up putting individual liberty ahead of the resulting collective harm. States have the mandate to act because the Trump administration does not appear to want to accept responsibility.

The absence of leadership, common sense, consistency and enforcement from the White House and US federal government stands in sharp contrast to what has occurred elsewhere.

Beijing has been criticised for its failure to act swiftly and transparently at the outset of the virus, resulting in its rapid global spread. However, once the government decided to act, it did so with bravado and efficiency – a fact some in the Western media have failed to widely report and continue to deny Beijing credit for.

US President Donald Trump has said America tests more of its citizens than any other country, but it is dwarfed by the sheer scale of testing throughout China. All 10 million people in Wuhan were tested in May, and Beijing continues to engage in the mass testing of hundreds of millions; it said this month that it would test all 9 million people in Qingdao in just five days after an outbreak of a dozen new cases.

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China’s city of Kashgar finds 137 new coronavirus cases after infected teen sets off mass testing

That type of mass testing is emblematic of the seriousness with which the Chinese government has tackled this menace. The government’s surveillance of its citizenry is unrivalled. This is one instance where the entire population has collectively benefited from the government’s use of big data, AI and surveillance technology.

Opinion | Coronavirus response: US flails while China goes from strength to strength

The absence of consistency and common sense from the US stands in sharp contrast to the experience of other countries China’s success, through rapid response, mass testing, surveillance and use of big data, provides a blueprint for disaster management

The absence of consistency and common sense from the US stands in sharp contrast to the experience of other countries

China’s success, through rapid response, mass testing, surveillance and use of big data, provides a blueprint for disaster management