China's COVID Lockdowns Once Inspired Western Officials; They Should Listen to Protesters Instead

They'd like you to forget, but at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic many Western public health experts praised the draconian measures that have now brought thousands of furious Chinese protesters into the streets in defiance of their totalitarian government. In some circles, China's response was actually seen as a model for other, freer, countries. Now, of course, few people want to associate themselves with lockdowns that have tallied up vast costs in lives, health, prosperity, and liberty.

The reasons for the backtrack are obvious. After years of unpredictable, rolling lockdowns that have seen whole neighborhoods fenced off and residents welded into their apartments, often to suffer from hunger and medical neglect, the people of China are fed up.

"As thousands took to the streets in cities protesting against Covid restrictions, an exhausted nation has been asking how much longer must they endure Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy," the BBC reported Monday. "Suffering under COVID restrictions has become a unifying experience, breeding anger in many corners of China from major cities to far-flung regions like Xinjiang and Tibet."