Page 24 - 2021 White Paper
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1 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
worried competitors might run with them. Even of what it’s called, the window for containment
if researchers were willing to share their findings was almost certainly shut. “It looks to me like this
early, there wasn’t a natural platform to do so. In virus really has escaped from China and is being
this new online system, scientists could post fresh transmitted quite widely,” says Christopher Dye,
data rapidly and still get some credit, regardless an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford. “I’m
of where the work was ultimately published. now feeling much more pessimistic that it can be
By early March 2020, more than 283 papers controlled.” In the United States, “disruption to
had already appeared on preprint repositories, everyday life might be severe,” Nancy Messonnier,
compared with 261 published in journals. Two of who leads the coronavirus response for the US
the largest biomedical preprint servers, bioRxiv Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and medRxiv, were getting around ten papers warned in late February. “We are asking the
each day on some aspect of the novel coronavirus. American public to work with us to prepare for the
The deluge challenge for their small teams. expectation that this is going to be bad” (Cohen
Much of that work, done by staff and outside and Kupferschmidt).
scientists, involves screening the submissions to
weed out pseudoscience and opinion pieces. The Politicians all over the world embraced war
manuscripts that make it through vary wildly in metaphors to describe the global pandemic.
quality. Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Covid-19 was the enemy. In the United States,
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says President Donald Trump called himself a
he’s so busy that he often reads preprints late “war time president,” and in New York, Governor
at night. “Eleven o’clock, 12 o’clock comes and Andrew Cuomo referred to health-care workers
you have 25 of these things to read,” Fauci says. as “troops,” even though many frontline health
“You can’t ignore them.” But sometimes, “It gets workers object to the characterization. With
a little confusing what you can really believe.” It deaths growing at an exponential rate, and
was even harder for journalists and the public at millions having lost jobs and livelihoods, the
large. Much of the data was becoming part of an metaphor may seem to fit: disease, like war,
“infodemic” of bad information. Still, the benefits calls for sacrifice and battle. Language has
of rapid information sharing far outweigh the consequences, however, and war is a loaded
disadvantages (Kupferschmidt). term. Metaphors of war prove useful to
authoritarian regimes that clamp down on dissent
Yet, the global Covid-19 march was beginning and exploit public fear to consolidate power.
to look unstoppable. A countrywide outbreak They also support the use of police and military
surfaced in Iran, spawning additional cases in forces to impose quarantines, curfews, and other
Iraq, Oman, and Bahrain. Italy put 10 towns in the public health measures. Most governments have
north on lockdown after the virus rapidly spread mobilized such forces, and many have concluded
there. An Italian physician carried the virus to that a punitive approach—using arrests, fines,
the Spanish island of Tenerife, a popular holiday and intimidation—is necessary to protect public
spot for northern Europeans, and Austria and health (Wise).
Croatia reported their first cases. Meanwhile,
South Korea’s outbreak kept growing explosively But is it? Physical-distancing measures—such as
and Japan reported additional cases in the wake staying home, wearing masks, washing hands, and
of the botched quarantine of a cruise ship. The closing non-essential businesses—were necessary,
virus was spreading stealthily in many more but their enforcement could be humane, allow
places. A modeling group at Imperial College for exceptions, and should not unnecessarily
London estimated that about two-thirds of involve armed personnel. After all, the war with
the cases exported from China have yet to be Covid-19 is likely to be protracted. Researchers
detected. Yet, the World Health Organization have warned that social-distancing measures
(WHO) still avoided using the word “pandemic” such as stay-at-home orders may be necessary—
to describe the burgeoning crisis today, instead intermittently, one hopes—well into 2022. And
talking about “epidemics in different parts of the these orders are not easy for everyone to obey.
world.” But many scientists say that regardless Some people don’t have homes. For others, home
24
worried competitors might run with them. Even of what it’s called, the window for containment
if researchers were willing to share their findings was almost certainly shut. “It looks to me like this
early, there wasn’t a natural platform to do so. In virus really has escaped from China and is being
this new online system, scientists could post fresh transmitted quite widely,” says Christopher Dye,
data rapidly and still get some credit, regardless an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford. “I’m
of where the work was ultimately published. now feeling much more pessimistic that it can be
By early March 2020, more than 283 papers controlled.” In the United States, “disruption to
had already appeared on preprint repositories, everyday life might be severe,” Nancy Messonnier,
compared with 261 published in journals. Two of who leads the coronavirus response for the US
the largest biomedical preprint servers, bioRxiv Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and medRxiv, were getting around ten papers warned in late February. “We are asking the
each day on some aspect of the novel coronavirus. American public to work with us to prepare for the
The deluge challenge for their small teams. expectation that this is going to be bad” (Cohen
Much of that work, done by staff and outside and Kupferschmidt).
scientists, involves screening the submissions to
weed out pseudoscience and opinion pieces. The Politicians all over the world embraced war
manuscripts that make it through vary wildly in metaphors to describe the global pandemic.
quality. Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Covid-19 was the enemy. In the United States,
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says President Donald Trump called himself a
he’s so busy that he often reads preprints late “war time president,” and in New York, Governor
at night. “Eleven o’clock, 12 o’clock comes and Andrew Cuomo referred to health-care workers
you have 25 of these things to read,” Fauci says. as “troops,” even though many frontline health
“You can’t ignore them.” But sometimes, “It gets workers object to the characterization. With
a little confusing what you can really believe.” It deaths growing at an exponential rate, and
was even harder for journalists and the public at millions having lost jobs and livelihoods, the
large. Much of the data was becoming part of an metaphor may seem to fit: disease, like war,
“infodemic” of bad information. Still, the benefits calls for sacrifice and battle. Language has
of rapid information sharing far outweigh the consequences, however, and war is a loaded
disadvantages (Kupferschmidt). term. Metaphors of war prove useful to
authoritarian regimes that clamp down on dissent
Yet, the global Covid-19 march was beginning and exploit public fear to consolidate power.
to look unstoppable. A countrywide outbreak They also support the use of police and military
surfaced in Iran, spawning additional cases in forces to impose quarantines, curfews, and other
Iraq, Oman, and Bahrain. Italy put 10 towns in the public health measures. Most governments have
north on lockdown after the virus rapidly spread mobilized such forces, and many have concluded
there. An Italian physician carried the virus to that a punitive approach—using arrests, fines,
the Spanish island of Tenerife, a popular holiday and intimidation—is necessary to protect public
spot for northern Europeans, and Austria and health (Wise).
Croatia reported their first cases. Meanwhile,
South Korea’s outbreak kept growing explosively But is it? Physical-distancing measures—such as
and Japan reported additional cases in the wake staying home, wearing masks, washing hands, and
of the botched quarantine of a cruise ship. The closing non-essential businesses—were necessary,
virus was spreading stealthily in many more but their enforcement could be humane, allow
places. A modeling group at Imperial College for exceptions, and should not unnecessarily
London estimated that about two-thirds of involve armed personnel. After all, the war with
the cases exported from China have yet to be Covid-19 is likely to be protracted. Researchers
detected. Yet, the World Health Organization have warned that social-distancing measures
(WHO) still avoided using the word “pandemic” such as stay-at-home orders may be necessary—
to describe the burgeoning crisis today, instead intermittently, one hopes—well into 2022. And
talking about “epidemics in different parts of the these orders are not easy for everyone to obey.
world.” But many scientists say that regardless Some people don’t have homes. For others, home
24
