Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. |
 | | A Covid testing booth in Beijing last week.Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times |
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A window into "zero Covid" policy |
This fall, as Omicron spread throughout China, reporters at The Times began noticing an uptick in social media videos that depicted the country's stringent "zero Covid" measures. |
The footage often showed Chinese officials going to extremes to enforce lockdowns and demonstrated how disobedience could lead to public shaming or arrest. |
"Compared with previous outbreaks, when the country could contain cases more easily, with Omicron it was different," my colleague Muyi Xiao, a reporter on the visual investigations team, said. "Cases were popping up everywhere, and a lot more videos were coming out. Local officials were also under a lot of pressure to make sure their outbreaks didn't go too badly. And the way that some of them tried to do that was to apply really harsh measures." |
Separation of children and parents |
The authorities' main tool for enforcing "zero Covid" is restricting movement. Officials have targeted not only people who tested positive, but also their neighbors, co-workers or anyone who had visited the same public places. In some cases, they have confined children away from their parents. |
The Times found several instances where boarding schools kept thousands of young students in lockdown. Boarding students in China normally return home once a week, but now they can be prevented from doing so for weeks or even months. |
"In China, boarding students sometimes have limited access to cellphones, but we started to see videos coming out where teachers would help students film videos with notes to their parents," Muyi said. |
A video shared on social media shows a group of students, filmed through a window on a door, taking turns reassuring their parents about their conditions in lockdown. "It's OK. Everything is fine," one girl says. |
Enforcement above all else |
Stopping infections can also take precedence over people's basic needs, such as shelter or medical care. |
Videos have shown residents in Zhengzhou forced to "quarantine in place" outdoors. One person said that her mother was asked to go to a quarantine center in the middle of the night after one of the employees at the Foxconn factory where her mother worked tested positive. While waiting for admission to the center, workers spent at least nine hours outdoors, shivering and hungry. |
In areas with outbreaks, some hospitals have taken in only Covid patients, or they have required up-to-date negative coronavirus test results for entry. In some cases, the regulations have prevented or delayed people from getting medical help. |
A video filmed on Oct. 15 in Urumqi, the capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang, shows a man confronting workers in hazmat suits at a hospital, asking why they will not allow several pregnant women to enter. The guards do not respond. |
"You see that story over and over again — people not getting access to hospitals," Muyi said. "And it's very difficult to see how the guards reacted in that video. They're just standing there. They're literally saying nothing." |
After the video drew an outcry online, the hospital said in a statement that all beds were full at the time and that one of the women was later admitted. |
Offenses such as leaving quarantine or refusing to wear a mask outdoors can lead to swift punishment, including public shaming or even physical violence. |
In one video, police officers confront an unmasked man at an outdoor produce market in Sichuan Province. After the man turns to address bystanders who are also urging him to put on a mask, an officer sprays him with an irritant. Then, police officers handcuff and lead him away. |
Some officials have also beaten residents who complain about quarantine conditions. These incidents have stoked dissatisfaction toward the rigid control measures, despite the heavy censorship. |
"I think one of the biggest lessons that we learned from watching these videos is how this type of top-down policy — and the lack of flexibility in ground-level implementation — can cause hazards and tragedies and pain," Muyi said. |
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Many people know the telltale symptoms of a Covid infection, but a tiny subset of people also develop less common symptoms like hairy tongue or tingling nerves. Here's what to do about them. |
Healthy tongue cells rapidly replace themselves. But if older cells linger and build on top of one another, they form a dark, thick, fuzzy overgrowth, often called hairy tongue. Some people may also feel a burning sensation inside their mouths, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. |
The affliction is generally temporary. People with hairy tongue can use a tongue scraper or toothbrush to scratch away those tongue cells, and they can make sure to practice good oral hygiene to prevent additional buildup. |
When people develop the sensation of pins and needles on their skin, it may be because their nerves are inflamed by immune cells that are fighting off infection, Dr. Chin-Hong said. It's also possible that the virus itself could damage peripheral nerves, like those that go to your hands and feet, another expert said. |
For many people, the tingling sensation goes away in a matter of days. If patients are in pain, they should consult their doctors, who may recommend taking Tylenol or Motrin. |
Any type of physical or emotional distress can cause your hair to fall out, said Dr. Shilpi Khetarpal, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic. It's not totally clear whether it's the coronavirus infection, or the stress related to it, that leads some people to experience hair loss, she said. But don't panic: Your hair will come back. "It just needs time," Dr. Khetarpal said. |
What else we're following |
- A child under the age of 5 died from R.S.V. in California, CBS News reports. It was the state's first young child to die from the virus this winter.
- The R.S.V. hospitalization rate among older U.S. residents is 10 times as high as it would normally be the case at this point in the season, CNN reports.
- A lack of child care amid a surge in Covid, flu and R.S.V. cases is keeping parents out of work and at home caring for sick children, The Washington Post reports.
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- The U.S. granted emergency authorization to a monkeypox test from Roche, Reuters reports.
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- The W.H.O. and Uganda plan to test vaccine candidates, with the first doses arriving in the country as early as next week, Stat News reports.
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Your approach to the holidays |
I love Thanksgiving and having family and friends around. I will ask people to test before the holiday and to wear masks in public spaces the week before Thanksgiving. I expect that everyone will mostly ignore my request. I am 66 and my husband is 65 and we are still being careful about Covid (and flu and R.S.V.). We still wear masks in all common indoor spaces and even in crowded outdoor spaces. I know — we are outliers. I go crazy when I hear people talk about Covid being over. It is not over, it's just that so many have given up. — Anne Lown, Portland, Ore. |
| Thanks for reading. I'll be back Friday — Jonathan |
| Rex Sakamoto compiled images for this briefing. |
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