Some non-zero sum cornflakes to start your day:

• Yes, China misrepresented their death count
• China bears great responsibility in not being open about COVID in November/December
• China is a totalitarian regime that puts poets and political dissidents in prison

• China has 1-3 million ethnic minority Uyghurs in concentration camps in the province of Xinjiang
• WHO panders to China
• China censors the Internet and removes dissent, COVID news, references to Tiananmen Square, etc.
• China expels Western journalists for accurate news

• China strongly censured social media users and doctors who were among the first to report a SARS-like virus taking over Wuhan
• When the pandemic is over, yes, the rest of the world must hold China accountable for unethical behavior that allowed the virus to spread

• Other countries can demand that China release information about the November/December cases and spread + accurate counts of death and ongoing spread
• Media should be reposting China’s numbers with an asterisk AND hold China to account as harshly as they call out Trump’s lies

• It’s not racism to ask hard questions, to censure China, to expect transparency in the global pandemic response
• WHO panders to China
• Social media in China + Wuhan doctors on SM + Chinese users on Twitter are largely why we had early warning in late December and January

• China tried to shut down that early warning, and is still censoring news
• It’s imperative we address these issues I just mentioned at an appropriate time, without scapegoating to cover our own disastrous response

LASTLY

• It’s possible to discuss these points without being racist or xenophobic, or using blame to deflect our own mistakes. (I just did.)
• There’s a thing called “truth” that relies more on data, evidence & fact and less on narrative, wish & emotion. We need more of it.