What The COVID-19 Crises Looks Like Through A Chinese-American's Eyes Yuanting Zhang

Hindsight is anything but 20/20. My birthday was on the last day of Colorado’s stay-at-home order. Many celebrated with me for various reasons. Nevertheless, I do not want to forget about what happened during the COVID-19 crisis. As a native Chinese who lives in the U.S., I have been overconsuming news from both mainland China and the U.S. ever since the outbreak started in late January. Many of you may be mentally exhausted, like me, waiting for everything to go back to normal… but what can we learn from these events so that this will never happen again?

Many Chinese natives have asked me why the US death toll is so high, especially when comparing it with numbers from around the globe. Undoubtedly, the U.S. missed out on the opportunity to nip COVID-19 in the bud. Few took it seriously in the beginning, and many people (except for Chinese Americans) watched what was happening in China and wishfully hoped they could contain it as they did with SARS. The U.S. media was busy reporting descendants in China and draconian measures Chinese government adopted to stop the spread. Nobody called for the control of medical supply sales, or the stockpiling of PPE in case the U.S. may eventually need it. The U.S. squandered at least a month doing nothing when they could have minimized the death count. When the stay-at-home order (most applaudable wise decision in my view) was finally issued, medical personnel were extremely under-prepared and were pushed to the forefront without much protection. Some may question why the high death toll in the U.S. is similar to Sweden, a country dependent on “herd immunity” in which quarantine was not enforced. However, you cannot prove evidence of ignorance (lack of evidence to the contrary) and show what could have happened if the government did not issue a quarantine. The U.S. may have experienced a much higher death rate without the quarantine in place.

Why are China’s numbers so low? As a person who grew up in China and trained as a demographer in the U.S., COVID-19 related deaths in China seemed unreasonably low, especially when you do a more fair comparison between Wuhan (population:11million; COVID deaths: 3,869) and NYC (population:8 million; COVID deaths: 12,287). If I dared to challenge these numbers with my Chinese friends, I was immediately accused as a traitor and someone who “forgot their Chinese roots and ancestry”. I asked around about how many people died in Wuhan in the first 3 months of 2020, but nobody knew. Isn’t that a problem? The only information I received was a rough number of urns (all Chinese bodies are required to be cremated rather than buried). How can you be sure (including several Chinese foreign affairs and scientists) of the true impact of COVID-19 if you cannot give me the total number of deaths? The definition of COVID-19 has not been clearly defined or universally adopted by all countries. Many in Wuhan might have died without being noticed or treated. They would have also been cremated without an autopsy, so these deaths were not included in the total numbers reported. Local Chinese officials have habitually been reporting only “good” news to the central government, and to the central government, the overwhelming number one task is to maintain stability. Uncertainty and fear may otherwise lead to chaos. When the virus first came about, China was clearly not aware of the future magnitude of this issue, so the numbers they presented were understandably off. They’ve had many opportunities to correct themselves and make it right since then, but instead, they continued to make themselves the laughingstock of the world. Personally, I think the Chinese government can keep defending their data all they want. However, what needs to be changed is the definition of these deaths and clear notations on how they calculated such numbers.

During desperation and chaos, many conspiracies arise. One similarity across all of these conspiracy theories is that the government is “out to get” the people. They discuss the origin of the virus, 5G related illnesses, and who is “behind” all of this. Personally, I think people around the world feel insecure and just desire more transparent information. I am thankful to be bilingual. I actually learn more about the U.S. from reading Chinese news (on who is distributing the federal resources and who is benefiting from the crisis) and more about China from reading western news. It is sickening to see that even at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., NPR is reporting Uyghurs in China (China Undercover). The timing is suspicious. Don’t they have more important things to report on? It is also sickening to see humanitarian help between countries being driven by the strength of political ties.

All kinds of issues flared up in both countries during the crisis; problematic hospital administrations, no protective gear for medical personnel, the racial class disparities in infected and treated. The western government realized they cannot solely rely on China to be the manufacturing factory of the world. You cannot have China pinching your neck during a crisis. Globalization and supply chains will undoubtedly be reshuffled after this crisis is over. As a manufacturing powerhouse, China also experienced a PPE shortage in the beginning, and have been receiving US-made N95 masks from overseas as a result. It seems to be a great mystery in the U.S. on how to obtain PPE supplies and who exactly is controlling the PPE distribution.

China reprimanded eight doctors at the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan and fired several Wuhan officials, shifting the blame to these corrupted scapegoats (and they deserved it). Since COVID-19 became widespread, the U.S. hasn’t been doing things much different from China, as they are demoting or firing the whistleblowers who dare to criticize the system. The U.S. politicians continue the mudslinging and blaming war with China.

China and the U.S. both have heroes emerging during this crisis. Wenhong Zhang in China and Dr. Fauci in the U.S. They are well respected and loved by many because they only stick to the science and facts known at the time of the crisis. It’s touching to see people in both countries stepping up during this hardship. While politicians are busy bickering or making money, Chinese Americans are buying PPE from China, donating money for food and PPE, and many Americans are making masks and giving donations to help out as well.

Currently, the COVID-19 crisis is wrapping up in China. Fang Fang’s diary created a huge stir. Controversy sells. Personally, I think it’s great that the diary was published so quickly. However, many mainland Chinese are angry with Fang Fang because her diary reveals too many details on what happened in Wuhan. They are under the impression that this information may give anti-Chinese westerners more ammunition in tarnishing China’s name, but the reality is that most Americans probably do not care that much about China (thanks to the US mass media which is immensely US-centric) and a few politicians are going to be China-haters no matter what. I am wondering if China should open the information blockade slowly. After all, when a flood (a western ideology) is coming, should you attempt to barricade it, or should you dredge it?

I know most Americans respect research and valid numbers, but during a crisis, can we use more common sense please? Overprotection is better than nothing. Because of the slow response, slow reaction, and early testing fiascos, small fires became a raging blaze, making misinformation and myths about COVID-19 much more widespread. States are still competing for proper PPE. Thanks to the CDC and other authorities, it’s nearly the end of April, and Americans are still confused about whether or where they should be wearing masks! Many hospitals did not allow non-COVID health workers to wear masks until early April and wanted medical staff to wear disposable surgical masks (which only cost about 5 cents) for weeks, still allowing them to come to work when they were infected but asymptotic. This is a respiratory pandemic and the spread could be asymptomatic and through floating particles, how much data do Americans need to believe that everyone should a mask during the reopening when there is no perfect contact tracing or vaccines around the corner?

Believe it or not, China is much more efficient in controlling COVID-19 as described by the NY Times correspondent McNeil. China was efficient in controlling the spread through family clusters (a protruding issue in many minority concentrated areas in the U.S.) by separating patients according to symptoms and not turning anyone away. Chinese patients did not need to pay a penny out of pocket, and the Chinese government took care of the bill for testing and treatment (see the table below). Thanks to the controversial surveillance cameras and complex monitoring system that is everywhere in China, they were naturally superior in contact tracing. The Chinese way may not be applicable in many other countries, but the U.S. did not seem to pay attention to the lessons learned in Wuhan. Instead, health disparities are becoming more and more prominent in the U.S. My heart aches when reading stories about patients’ last words being concerns about hospital bills, and it saddened me to hear of people who were turned away by the medical system and died without being tested or treated.

I am sure COVID-19 is going to pass soon in the U.S., but some things should not be forgotten easily. I hope that Americans will remember what the Asian communities did (helping out, even when they were being harassed and mistreated by some because of the “China Virus” label). I hope the U.S. can have a more efficient medical system that does not run like a business. I hope the U.S. can have an overarching plan for future crises. The U.S. lost many lives, including many healthcare workers, and they should not die in vain. I hope people can realize that we have one earth and we are all in this together.