A couple of thoughts about the Chinese government…
Shortly after they stopped trying to cover up and admitted they had a problem, they said that the new virus wasn’t a bioweapon-level threat, but they were going to treat it like one anyway. Sorry, I don’t have a link; this is something I was told by a good source. But with the possibility of it being a lab escape, I can’t help wondering if they know something we don’t…
And one of their more totalitarian aspects that they certainly have been using, and which will have undoubtedly helped them, is state control of both broadcast and internet media – no conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers or denialists to give the public weird ideas.
These are observations, not praise – but with freedom comes responsibility; that’s an inevitability.