Since the COVID-19 breakout in China in December 2019, China and many countries have taken immediate action to eliminate the virus through rules and regulations.  China has continued to fight the virus by expanding their intense lockdown policies. Rising cases in China sparked an elimination strategy, called Dynamic COVID-zero, causing protests across the country to ask for alleviation. These citizens rightly demand relief from the government’s extreme response.

DYNAMIC COVID-ZERO

According to the BBC, “China is following a policy it calls ‘dynamic zero’ — taking action wherever Covid flares up in order to eradicate it.” This policy includes strict lockdown regulations, mass testing in infected areas and extreme government-facilitated quarantines designed to eliminate the virus completely. Local businesses and schools are completely shut down in exposed areas, leaving millions of people restrained under these measures every day. 

Protesters are demanding relief from extreme regulations. In China, lockdowns are lasting until no new infections are reported. Cities will inhibit access to food and daily activities until there are absolutely zero COVID-19 cases. Chinese citizens are expressing concern for themselves and their country, believing the impossible goal of these measures only cause despair. 

THE NEW APPROACH

China uses the MUST approach in their new lockdown regulations. As a Communist country, the Chinese government goes to great lengths in a stated attempt to better the collective whole of the country. 

M stands for “matter of life and death,” meaning that the Chinese government suggests citizens sacrifice everything— even their lives— for the interests of the people. U stands for “united against the virus,” which encourages the entire country to fight the pandemic with equal efforts. S stands for “science based,” using science as the best tool for prevention. Lastly, T stands for “targeted,” meaning the government targets their response measures in certain areas of the country to prevent community-spreading.

The Chinese government supports a collective effort to reduce community spreading; they expect passionate participation in the extreme lockdown measures from the targeted areas of new Covid cases. This expectation has caused fury amongst the citizens whose lives are now inhibited by the Dynamic COVID-zero policy. 

PROTESTS IN SHANGHAI

The China CDC Weekly claims there are no conflicts over Dynamic COVID-zero policy. However, many Chinese citizens are protesting against Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s Dynamic COVID-zero strategy. The protests sparked after a fire broke out in Shanghai. Because lockdown barriers blocked them from accessing the burning building, firefighters were unable to extinguish the fire. 

“I think what’s happening in China is absolutely horrible,” junior nursing major Anna Newman said. “There was a recent apartment fire where upwards of 20 people died because the physical barriers blocked the fire truck. The enforcement of lockdown measures in China [is] mentally and psychologically hurting people as seen by the protest breakouts. It is unreasonable to think that there can be zero Covid cases in such a densely populated country.” 

This event caused an uproar from Chinese citizens, pleading for their government to make a difference.

“The fire appeared to act as a catalyst for searing public anger over China’s strict zero-Covid measures after videos emerged that seemed to suggest lockdown measures delayed firefighters from reaching the victims,” CNN reports.

Multiple cities and China are filled with anti-lockdown protestors asking for freedom. It seems as though the policy has sparked fervor for democracy. The protestors expressed their opposition against the Communist Party by calling it a “dictatorship.” Contrary to the China CDC Weekly claim, these Chinese protestors’ interests do not align with the MUST approach and they directly oppose the Dynamic COVID-zero strategy.

THE U.S. PERSPECTIVE

Since the U.S. national Covid lockdown and 2020, the United States government worked to achieve the current lessened limitations. Today, most states in the U.S. have fully reopened their economies and have no mask restrictions whatsoever. Covid regulations have turned into recommendations since the FDA approval of the COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020.

Today in the United States, deaths from COVID-19 have rapidly declined since the release of the COVID-19 vaccine on top of improved treatments for the virus. However, new cases still appear each day. The former restrictions allowed COVID-19 cases to go down, yet there is no guarantee that the virus will be eradicated completely. The United States government alleviated these restrictions in order to validate the freedoms of U.S. citizens. 

New COVID-19 cases may decrease, but a country cannot completely eradicate the virus. Along with the United States’ efforts to lower the number of cases, they lessened restrictions to allow the democracy’s ensured freedoms. Compared to the extreme regulations now enforced in China, U.S. citizens experience a surplus of freedoms in the midst of the virus.