It has been estimated that a third of the world’s population has now endured some form of lockdown in the battle to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Just a few months ago, that would have seemed impossible, and for years to come, questions will surely be asked about how we got to this point: Was it justified or was it an overreaction?
What is clear is that no one yet knows how or when it is going to end. The U.S. is currently working out how to lift the restrictions that have affected 95% of its population and sent the nation’s economy into a grievous tailspin.
Meanwhile, China — where both the disease and large-scale lockdowns originated — surprisingly avoided nationwide closures. Its leaders focused instead on the cities where the disease was rampant. Life and jobs elsewhere in the huge country were less affected.
The draconian measures were enforced initially in Hubei Province, especially the city of Wuhan, where the contagion began. As it spread further, a total of 16 cities went into lockdown.
That meant around 60 million Chinese people were interned, which is an historic high, but that was out of a population of 1.4 billion. The economy certainly took a hit, but it wasn’t paralyzed, unlike some of its competitors.
When this coronavirus strain spread to Italy, it too imposed restrictions around its epicenter in the northern regions of Lombardy and Tuscany.
But on March 9, as the death toll hit 463, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended emergency legislation across the nation. His “holistic” approach then became the model for all subsequent countries that went into lockdown.
[…]
See Also:
(3) America Can’t Face China Alone
(4) Coronavirus: China Continues to Flood the World with Defective Medical Supplies
(5) COVID-19 fatality rate significantly lower than first thought
Watch:
