victorlin (u/victorlin)

victorlin commented on Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says npr.org/sections/goatsand... · Posted by u/tmlee

beaunative · 6 years ago

Why would the WHO try to please China? It's an international organization. It's not a charity. It doesn't rely on donation. Its membership were to countries, it's operations were maintained based on membership dues. I find it revolting as the OP seems to be insinuating there were financial interest for WHO to please China, which is bizarre and outrageous based on how it's organized.

victorlin · 6 years ago

If WHO doesn't want to please China, could you explain they follow China's will and block Taiwan all the time?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/22/china-health-coronaviru...

Yeah, right? why would they, hmmmmm, I am wondering

victorlin commented on Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says npr.org/sections/goatsand... · Posted by u/tmlee

theseadroid · 6 years ago

Hey HN, in light of the current situation and the potential ordeal in the coming weeks, may I ask you instead of blaming whoever, let's find some solutions to help people?

As a Chinese, I read first hand materials from Chinese social media and friends on what life is like in a lockdown area. People there depends on deliveries for groceries and medicine, and occasionally restaurants take-outs. All those services, and a bunch of other services for small businesses are possible because of Wechat. Wechat is obviously not a popular option here in N.A. Is there something we can do to help both the people buy whatever they need via delivery and help local businesses?

In Wuhan when the entire family had to be isolated, no one was left to take care of family pets. I heard there's volunteer groups to take them but their capacities were very limited due to the short notice for them to take on such responsibilities. Can we be more prepared and maybe find a technology(-assisted) solution to this before it becomes a huge issue? I feel this will be an issue sooner rather than later because in N.A. it appears the current policy for mild cases is self-isolating, which will very likely infect the entire family.

Also in Wuhan during the lockdown many people felt so lonely, especially the older generation who can't use the internet effectively to stay connected to their families/rest of the world. Can we find ways to help people prepare for it psychologically? A lot of people will break medical suggested self-isolation because of the eagerness to stay connected to certain people/group. Instead of blaming them, can we help them find ways to stay connected yet in isolation?

I'm sure there are more things the mighty HN crowd can do to help others overcome this difficult time. Let's give it a try?

victorlin · 6 years ago

If the root cause of the problem is not resolved, even we overcome this virus, then now what? What's next? If the next virus hit us again, would Chinese government still try to cover up the problem and stop people from speaking up? Would WHO stop down playing the problem and advice not taking actions? It's a wake up call, while it's nice to have some heartwarming help from internet, I am more concern about COVID-19 is not the worst case, it's just a test, next thing could be way worse if we only try to look away from the root problem, like all the time we did.

victorlin commented on Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says npr.org/sections/goatsand... · Posted by u/tmlee

james-mcelwain · 6 years ago

This kind of Sinophobia is so unwarranted -- China has done the best to control this disease outside of maybe S. Korea.

victorlin · 6 years ago

Sorry to say that, but Taiwan did the best to control it

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/what-taiwan-can-t...

See it yourself, not China. They hide data from the world, beat people up on street. How come that now becomes a model for the world? Taiwan is a free country, and yet they did a great job there.

victorlin commented on Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says npr.org/sections/goatsand... · Posted by u/tmlee

james-mcelwain · 6 years ago

Look at the YouTube channel they linked.

victorlin · 6 years ago

What they say in the channel are all true, they have been traveling in China and living there for long time, they married Chinese wife. If you really look closely, you will notice that they pointed out many problems in China, which I don't think it's Sinophobia. If you point out problems in any country makes you something phobia, then there's no freedom of speech....

victorlin commented on Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says npr.org/sections/goatsand... · Posted by u/tmlee

victorlin · 6 years ago

I've been watching COVID-19 very closely since 2019 Dec it, I also witnessed how WHO responses to this Pandemic. If you were me, you will notice that WHO tried very hard to please China, rather than taking people's health into consideration. Many things they did:

- Advice not to ban flight to China after China locked down hubei lockdown (yes, many country trust WHO, like Japan and Korea)

- Met and praised Xi many times, admire how wonderful they did

- Keep down playing how serious the problem can be, and didn't advice any action

And recently, China suddenly donate $20M to WHO

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-outbreak-china-t...

For more details, please watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VGPYtbTk8

victorlin commented on WHO Director: "Covid-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza" who.int/dg/speeches/detai... · Posted by u/vanilla-almond

lovemenot · 6 years ago

Imagine if Israel had taken the opportunity to lock-down West Bank in the name of health, specifically prevention of novel coronavirus.

My artificial example is perhaps not accurate on its face, but I hope you can see the principle. WHO was trying to prevent unnecessary border restrictions in the world, until such time as they became justified for health reasons. In China that was already the case.

victorlin · 6 years ago

If you have no idea how bad it already was when WHO suggest not restrictions needed, than I would suggest you watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-nv7j9HEgY

Many of the footage are before the Jan 30 WHO announcement, like the many body moving in front of hospital.

WHO probably already know what's really happening there, but still given wrong advice, so that many countries, like Korean, Japan follow the instruction by WHO, not imposing the restriction on China. And now people in these countries are suffering from the misinformation provided by WHO.

Another evidence WHO is controlled by China, that is when Taiwanese people want to join WHO to get latest update about the virus and help from the world, Chinese government doesn't want this to happen.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/22/china-health-coronaviru...

So basically Taiwan was excluded from the global health system for long time because that.

I am from Taiwan, I don't feel surprise at all that WHO is controlled by China, as they have shown it that way long time ago on the issue of excluding people from Taiwan. So that's obviously political over people's health in the world.

victorlin commented on WHO Director: "Covid-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza" who.int/dg/speeches/detai... · Posted by u/vanilla-almond

FabHK · 6 years ago

Hindsight. At the time, nobody had travel restrictions. Were they all influenced by China? No, with the then current information travel or trade restrictions didn’t make sense.

This is the same lazy argument as with the 737 MAX - why wasn’t it immediately grounded? Well, you can’t just shut down the world at any sign of trouble. You have to make an informed judgement call with the information you have at the time. Sometimes, ex post, it will turn out to have been the wrong call. Doesn’t mean you need to revise or impugn the decision procedure.

victorlin · 6 years ago

Well, allow me to remind you the timeline

> On 23 January 2020, the central government of the People's Republic of China imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province in an effort to quarantine the epicentre of an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hubei_lockdowns

What do you mean nobody had travel restrictions? The report from WHO date was on 30 January 2020, when they saw this and yet suggest not to put any restrictions?

victorlin commented on WHO Director: "Covid-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza" who.int/dg/speeches/detai... · Posted by u/vanilla-almond

victorlin · 6 years ago

Please don't trust WHO, obviously they got heavily influence from Chinese government.

Remember when COVID-19 out-broken in China, the WHO told us

"The Committee does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available. "

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on...

Then we saw China locked down all major city themselves. Now you tell me it's fine not to ban flights from China?

And they also keep mentioning it's not a big deal. Obviously they don't want to hurt Chinese economy. I won't trust anything they say, as their interest is China government's interest, not people's health.