FARGO — One of the most controversial topics in Fargo during the height of the coronavirus pandemic has been face masks, and the arguments for and against them have led to threats against school boards and protests.
But in China, face masks were mandatory, as were negative tests for COVID-19.
The contrast between the responses of the United States and China regarding pandemic protocols could not be starker.
In the US, guidelines issued by the federal and state governments temporarily closed some businesses, but also provided financial assistance to citizens and companies.
According to the Chinese Congress-Executive Commission, China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has included “reinforced forms of authoritarian control characterized by top-down management and strong local enforcement.”
According to Jeanne Sun, the country has offered little aid to the country laobaixingor citizens.
For three years, she queued up every day for a coronavirus test. Without the daily negative result of a person, he could not leave his composition. She couldn’t buy food or open her tattoo parlor for business.
In November last year, shortly after the October 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China, a 41-year-old Chinese woman was stuck without the correct result of a daily test that worked like a switch.
He hid in the trunk of a car while a friend drove him to a safe house. There she waited about 24 hours for the new test results before she could go home.
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After widespread protests, China eased its pandemic rules in late December, but the government is now blaming Chinese citizens for the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, saying, “You wanted freedom, now you got it,” Sun said.
“For three years it was terrible, but many people got used to this life. After the government meeting, they still kept people at home. … People are really tired of it,” Sun said from his apartment via video chat.
About 300 people from his apartment spoke with the mayor and some met with police to negotiate opening the building, he said.
“People are angry because the government has lied to us for three years.” They were showing the number of people in other countries every day, and finally we had a lot of people dying. “
‘The situation is very different’
Young Jun, president of United Chinese America of Fargo/Moorhead, has spent most of the past decade in North Dakota, but he keeps up with the news in his home country.
When asked which country’s response to the pandemic was most appropriate, he thought for a long time.
“That’s a very difficult question to answer,” Yang said. “The rules of these two countries were very opposite. There are many people in China and the societies in China are very different. For the last three years, they have been controlling. Now they believe that the virus has weakened. They know that now they have to release the control so that business can continue.” continue.
“The situation is very different. Americans feel that they have responded correctly, while in China they feel that they are correct,” Yang said.
One difference he noticed is that in China, political leaders, not medical professionals, made decisions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There are some cities that are hit very hard. Where my family is, there are many positive people and some are very serious. Some died. But in Beijing, I heard that there are a lot of them,” he said.
“There are many small businesses that are closed and there is no government support; have taken their deposit. A lot of big corporations are also suffering and earnings are terrible,” he said.
“The situation was getting worse”
Xinhua Jia, a professor at North Dakota State University for 16 years, said she returned to China shortly before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, but has not been able to return to her home in Urumqi, Xinjiang since then.
He encouraged his elderly parents to stay at home, and when they fell ill, they separated and recovered.
Jia also did not know what response would be best to fight the coronavirus.
“My younger brother has his own business in Beijing and the government has never helped him. He suffered financially during the pandemic. China’s economic situation has forced everyone to suffer to some extent,” he said.
Because of China’s population, he agreed with the strict initial protocols for dealing with the pandemic.
“In the beginning, if there wasn’t so much control, it would have been worse,” Jia said.
Now, after the peak of the pandemic in the US has passed, he looks back over the past three years and realizes that “the biggest difference I’ve seen is that the Chinese Sheng Sior life and land, but Americans were less concerned about it, especially when it involved wearing a mask.”
Usually prone to the winter flu, Jia started wearing face masks when the pandemic hit. She has not been sick since then, she said.
Although China’s official data is not accurate and they stopped reporting many cases in December, the latest statistics show that China has more than 11 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 34,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. has been
This national data is likely to be low, as some regional reports such as Zhejiang province have said they will see 1 million new cases each day in December 2022, according to PBS News Hour.
The United States has reported more than 100 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 1.1 million deaths, the WHO reported.
North Dakota has more than 280,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with more than 2,400 deaths, according to North Dakota.
In Beijing, where Sun lives, information is fluctuating and the death rate is unknown.
Sun, like many others in China, lost his business and can no longer afford to pay the rent. Even after the lifting of restrictions in December, he has some hope. Her old customer base is gone. Her businesses were forcibly shut down last April by law enforcement and agents of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce.
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He receives no government assistance and is self-employed, whose health insurance premiums have recently increased.
As in the US, groceries are more expensive.
Famous artist and musician Sun has been deprived of a new passport. He doesn’t know what he’ll do, but he’s trying to rent out his apartment and the business he still owns.
In the first year of the pandemic, people mostly obeyed and hoped the hard times would pass, Sun said. In the second year, people spent their savings. The third year, they got angry, he said.
“A lot of people lost their jobs and China lost a lot of foreign companies that were investing. “For me, my tattoo customers are mostly migrant workers, and they all left because they don’t want to stay in China anymore,” he said.
“We have done everything for the government for three years to stop the virus, but in the end this is the result. This is the same virus. Everyone is sick now and many old people have died. Nothing has changed,” said Sun.
