I know people are saying Shanghai is a shitshow because of the local government. But do you think it might have been a bad idea in general to deploy such a harsh policy in the country? (asking in good faith as someone who would not mentally survive such long lockdowns)
I am optimistic that China can still contain this outbreak, and I think they are absolutely right to try. The sad thing is, next time it breaks out, the virus will have evolved into something more communicable; and at some point a zero-Covid strategy will be as viable as a zero-Common-Cold strategy. China will have to strike a balance between just allowing Covid to run rampant like the West does, and on the other hand expending massive amounts of resources on pinning down a germ that will, in the not-too-distant future, begin to do less damage than seasonal influenza.
Well, until it co-infects some camel that also has MERS. There’s no promise, after all, that it will do less damage. MERS had a 50% mortality, it just didn’t infect humans very readily. There are still potential end-of-the-world scenarios ready to manifest.