How China Is About To Make The Rest Of The World Look Stupid.
Part 2: COVID-19 Series
Full Disclosure Statement: I am the CEO of MorphoMFG, a contract manufacturing company HQ’d in Guangzhou, China.
*Let me start this article with a very important preface. I am a proud Canadian who loves his roots. I have a lot of American citizens in my family and love that the U.S.A. is part of who I am. My descendants are from Europe and I am grateful for the culture that has been passed down to me. I, in NO way, think that certain humans are better than others. The following article is simply a look into the way my eyes have seen this entire pandemic unfold.
*All opinions are mine and mine alone.
China has put A TON of measures in place to not only slow down the virus outbreak but is currently on pace to completely shut down the outbreak within its own borders. I believe that if the rest of the world were to emulate these measures, we could put a global stop to what is happening. Some have gone as far as calling the measures that the Chinese government has put in place draconian. I find the opposite to be true. Letting the virus run free by not taking the necessary precautions is far more harsh and severe. Only time will tell which side of history the winners will be on in this crisis.
While I champion China’s current situation as well as their path to having arrived here, I’d like to begin by starting with the 2 issues I think that could have been handled better by the Chinese government.
1) Dr. Li WenLiang first rang the warning bell on December 30th, 2020.
a. On December 30th, Li WenLiang saw a patient’s report which showed a positive result for “… Coronavirus infections, but the exact virus strain is being subtyped”.
b. He shared this information in a WeChat Group (China’s largest social media platform) with some med school classmates.
c. This information was shared across the nation quickly.
d. Police investigated Li and gave him a warning notice for “making false comments on the Internet”. Note that these were low-level police in the area.
e. Li, having forced to be quiet, went back to work and ended up contracting the virus on January 8th.
f. The top Chinese court eventually criticized the police and China’s highest anti-corruption body, the National Supervisory Commission, has initiated a “comprehensive investigation” into the issues involving Li. The investigation is now completed and the findings by the Chinese government are that the police handled this situation incorrectly and should not have taken it upon themselves to make decisions regarding this. A complete disconnect from reporting to their superiors.
Check out more details regarding his story here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang
If China had taken Dr. Li’s warning more seriously, who knows how quick the virus could have been eradicated. Again though, there is a tendency to think that President Xi and the top level of the government were aware of this and covering it up and suppressing the information. This viewpoint is entirely inaccurate.
2) Non-Immediate Response
a. A recent study that was published in March found: ‘.. if Chinese authorities had acted 3 weeks earlier than they did, the number of CoronaVirus cases could have been reduced by 95% and its geographic spread limited’.
Having said that there were two other findings in the study:
1) Without non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI’s) that China did proceed with — such as early detection, isolation of cases, travel restrictions and cordon sanitaria — the number of infected people would have been 67 times larger than that which actually occurred.
2) If NPIs were conducted one week, two weeks, or three weeks later than they were, the number of cases may have shown a 3-fold, 7-fold, or 18-fold increase, respectively.
Hindsight is 20/20. Sure, now, looking from the outside in, we all know how terrible and dangerous this thing is. But it took mass infections worldwide for Western societies to wake up. It is easy to sit back now and say, “They should have reacted faster and been more serious from the onset”, but the reality is nobody could know how bad this thing would be. They did not have a crystal ball to predict the future of this crisis.
Could things have been done more perfectly? Sure.
These 2 errors were handled inappropriately.
But, could anyone else have managed this virus so positively? I certainly don’t think so.
After those 2 errors took place, I would now like to highlight the swift follow-up and very aggressive measures that China has put in place to nip this virus in the bud.
The facts speak for themselves:
China did a fantastic job handling the virus. By March 16th, daily infections outside of China (87,000+) had surpassed those within (80,860). As of March 18th, there were ZERO new cases in China. On March 19th, Italy’s death count (3,405) related to the CoronaVirus passed China’s total (3,245).
MorphoMFG’s HQ in Guangzhou, China is working at essentially full-speed. Other than the masks and social distancing, I notice almost no difference in productivity and efficiency compared with prior to the virus outbreak. Most of my contacts within China’s borders tell the same story.
How did China manage to tackle the domestic outbreak so quickly?
Starting on January 23rd, 2020 China placed Wuhan (the virus’ outbreak epicenter) under strict quarantine. All air, rail, and road travel was banned. The city was on lockdown. China received criticism for the strictness of these newly set up regulations, but I believe that measure coupled with the below measures have lead to China seeing its first no new case day.
1) Swift response to lack of medical equipment: There was a massive shortage for almost all medical equipment; China felt it the hardest at the beginning of the outbreak. People were traveling with the sole purpose of buying masks. While in Switzerland mid-February, I happened upon a small town in the Alps that had one pharmacy. When we asked about masks the pharmacist pointed to an empty box and said that Chinese had been thru and bought them all. Unfortunately, this was not all positive. Profiteers were bringing masks back to China and selling them for 20x their standard MSRP. Everybody was desperate. People were ordering masks in as large of quantities as they could from all over the world. China quickly jumped into action and began manufacturing en masse in order to help with supply both domestically and internationally.
Many of our partner factories from MorphoMFG completely re-tooled their entire manufacturing lines in order to make masks. While there is surely commercial interests and profit behind these efforts, government subsidies, tax breaks, and encouragement certainly helped in uniting the cause.
China is now pumping out between 100–200 million masks per day. That is more than 20x the amount it made at the beginning of February (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/814929294/covid-19-has-caused-a-shortage-of-face-masks-but-theyre-surprisingly-hard-to-mak) With demand being satisfied domestically and shelves re-stocked, China will now begin shipping worldwide.
2) Job Safety: The Chinese government has made it so businesses within China can’t simply lay off their workers. Workers are well protected and given a guaranteed salary while work could not take place. Other regulations were quickly put into place to allow corporation’s employees to WFH (work from home).
3) Mask Use: There has been convincing evidence provided by multiple specialists that the wearing of masks will not prevent you from being infected. However, there has also been extensive research that the wearing of masks, particularly the N95 masks (95% minimum efficiency level in air filtration), will prevent an infected patient from spreading the virus.
So, while the rest of the world refuses to use masks extensively, China has been vigilant in forcing all citizens to wear a mask at all times. I would guess that the majority of those infected with COVID-19 do not show symptoms. That does not mean that they are not contagious. While the asymptomatic might not know they have the virus, they could easily be spreading it. Mass wearing of masks without exception has certainly played a roll in the containment.
4) Quarantine: I believe this is the most intense and important measure that China has taken. Despite overwhelming evidence showing that this has worked in China, to date, nobody has done this to the equivalent level that China has.
a. In mid-January, Chinese authorities introduced unprecedented measures to contain the virus, stopping movement in and out of Wuhan, the center of the epidemic, and 15 other cities in Hubei province — home to more than 60 million people. Flights and trains were suspended, and roads were blocked. They literally dumped massive piles of dirt on the highways to ensure nobody could get in or out.
b. Soon after, people in many Chinese cities were told to stay home and venture out only to get food or medical help. Some 760 million people, roughly half the country’s population, were confined to their homes, according to the New York Times.
c. As of 16 March, roughly 81,000 cases have been reported in China, according to the WHO. Some scientists think that many cases there were unreported — either because symptoms were not severe enough for people to seek medical care, or because tests were not carried out. But it seems clear that measures implemented during this time did work, says Christopher Dye, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, UK. “Even if there were 20 or 40 times more cases, which seems unlikely, the control measures worked,” says Dye.
d. Lai ShengJie and Andrew Tatem, emerging-disease researchers at the University of Southampton, UK, created a simulation model that assesses the combined effect of China’s early detection and isolation, the resulting drop in contact between people and the country’s intercity travel bans on reducing the virus’ spread. Together, these measures prevented cases from increasing by 67-fold — otherwise, there would have been nearly 8 million cases by the end of February.
I truly believe that proper quarantining has been the number one reason behind China’s success to date. I hope that I am wrong, however, I do not see other governments pulling this off as swiftly as China did unless they START NOW.
5) Mass Testing, Care, & Encouragement for all citizens:
American citizens could be paying massive amounts of money for testing & treatment.
As well, those un-insured (27% of Americans) are terrified of the thought of any of these unexpected expenses.
All Chinese citizens were encouraged to take free tests if they showed any symptoms. Doctors, nurses, and hospital staff worked tirelessly despite extreme conditions to meet the demand for treatment and testing.
While this led to an extremely busy and overwhelmed health system in Wuhan, this brings me to my next point.
6) Hospital Built in 10 Days: No matter how you slice this one, the efficiency and productivity of the Chinese government is unmatched.
Once again the swift action of the government helped temper the speed at which this could have potentially exploded.
Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily Show, jokingly said ‘No other country could build a hospital in 10 days. In the states, I can’t even get cable in 10 days.’
7) Social Distancing: While memes and jokes fly around about the severity of the virus, China practiced social distancing intensely since the warning was sent nationwide.
8) Proactive Measures: Prior to the March 11th announcement from the WHO proclaiming COVID-19 an international pandemic, China was already on high alert.
The rest of the world had almost 2 months to prepare as the virus spread. Unfortunately, most of the necessary actions were not taken. Now, while some countries are facing an extremely devastating outcome, China has now continued to work grind and work tirelessly to help the international outbreak.
International Aid: Where else can the world look for help outside of China?
Italy, Spain, Iran, Germany, USA, and France all have more than 10,000 cases of the coronavirus. This virus has already shown that it grows exponentially. China, being the only major economy in the world to have already all but halted the growth of the virus, is the only country in a position to help.
As things have slowed down and improved with China’s own borders, they have done just that.
Examples of China sending International Aid to those in need:
1) Intensive-Care Personnel & Equipment Sent Internationally: While healthcare is overwhelmed worldwide, China is dispatching an incredible amount of help:
a. Chinese Doctors and Supplies Arrive In Italy.
b. Cambodia, Spain, Italy, Philippines, & Iran receive aid.
c. Belgium receives 2M medical masks and 50,000 CoronaVirus test kits.
d. France.
e. Italy: World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the Chinese-Italian cooperation a “heartwarming example of solidarity” on Twitter.
2) The Individual Chinese Doctors, Nurses, and Other Medical Staff: Not only is this an incredibly selfless act by China but these medical experts, who are already exhausted, are heroes who are putting their lives on the line to help foreign nations that are facing unreal hardship.
3) Billionaire Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba) donates test kits and masks to the world.
a. Jack Ma donated 500k CoronaVirus test kits and 1 million masks to the U.S.
b. Jack Ma donated 500k masks and 30k test kits to the Belgian government
China dealt with the domestic problem and then had an almost immediate response to the international situation. Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, responded: “A friend in need is a friend indeed, we’ll do whatever we can to help other countries in fighting COVID-19.”
China has done its best to do everything they can to help prevent the virus from getting out of control. They will continue to do so. Chinese as a culture are naturally friendly and truly caring people. But, their help alone will not be enough.
Yesterday, Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, addressed the nation regarding the seriousness of the virus. She said: “Es ist Ernst,” (This is Serious) She later went on to say that “Since World War II, no challenge to our nation has ever demanded such a degree of common and united action.” She asked for sacrifice & discipline in following the regulations laid out by the government.
Why does this matter to you?
China is the most consistently reliable economic source in the world.
If you have a complex product that needs manufacturing, there is truly no spot better than China.
I hope that people listen. This isn’t a joke. World leaders are pleading for help from anyone who can give it. This is a virus that no one was prepared for. A virus that took the world by surprise. While that certainly makes it more difficult to respond in a timely matter, it certainly doesn’t make it impossible.
I reckon if the world starts following China’s example, we’ll be fine.
In the meantime, lean on China’s lead to create incredible products on a very regular basis.
I have run MorphoMFG out of Guangzhou, China for the last 4 years. I have lived in Guangzhou, China for the last 7. I am incredibly proud of the business that I have created and it would not have had a hope if it weren’t for the people I have built this company with, our partners here in China, and the plethora of lessons I have learned doing business in this incredible nation.
While the world is in turmoil, our business continues to grow at a record-breaking pace. A huge part of this is credited to the way that the Chinese government and its people have dealt with this crisis.
I am fiercely proud of the way that this has been handled.
I am lucky to have had such incredible colleagues helping to build this company into its full potential.
I am proud to call China my home.
There is nowhere I’d rather be.
While it’s been a rough start, we have big plans for 2020. We’re just getting warmed up.
Click the logo below to get in touch and learn more about how you can create your dream product today in China with MorphoMFG.
