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China-Japan-Koreas
China will shut down borders if struck by bird flu
2005-10-23
China will shut its borders if there is a single case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu in the country, its deputy health minister has said. As bird flu entered Britain yesterday with the discovery of the virus in a parrot in quarantine, Huang Jiefu said saving lives would be Beijing's main priority even if it meant a slowdown in the economy.
And since he's a minister in a communist, murderous state, you can believe him when he talks about saving lives.
His warning came as finance specialists predicted that a flu pandemic could devastate Asian economies. The Asian Development Bank said a mild outbreak would cost the region up to $110 billion (£62bn) in reduced consumption, investment and trade. A more severe outbreak would lead to global recession.

Yesterday the bank announced it would provide $58 million (£33m) in grants to help combat the disease before it spreads. 'Many economic activities would be brought to a halt, while the health systems of most countries would be overwhelmed,' a spokesperson said.
Posted by:Steve White

#7  "Who will make my socks? Will I have to start washing them?"

That way more personal information that we needed, RS. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2005-10-23 14:10  

#6  That's a horrible scenario Gromky. What if I need a new 17' monitor? Will I be forced by nature to soldier on with this sorry thing I have? And socks? Who will make my socks? Will I have to start washing them? It'll be like 1977 all over again.
Posted by: Rod Steiger   2005-10-23 13:24  

#5  Nah, I know a real American doctor, in a city 2 hours away by taxi. He'll come if I call him. He tells me bone-chilling stories from misdiagnosis to reliance on ineffective traditional medicine to plain bullheadedness when a doctor refuses to lose face by admitting that he was wrong, and the patient dies or is permanently crippled. I will never so much as let a Chinese doctor touch me, I don't care how "Western-trained" he is. God forbid I ever actually have to go to the hospital.

If China shuts down its borders due to flu, the damage will be huge. Every kind of retailer in the States will have empty shelves very quickly.
Posted by: gromky   2005-10-23 12:04  

#4  When bird flu hits China, China will LIE about it and pretend nothing is wrong.
Posted by: anon1   2005-10-23 12:00  

#3  My sister goes to China periodically to train doctors. She might be able to put you in touch with those doctors, depending on where you are. I don't mean that would help with bird flu, but for things like your friend's injuries.
Posted by: Kathy L   2005-10-23 07:35  

#2  Ah...great. So I'll be trapped. Just where I want to be when the shit hits the fan...a shitty country with no medical care. Friend of mine broke 8 ribs and a collarbone in a wreck, hospital sent him home without so much as an aspirin. "We can't help you."

Hopefully there's some exception for foreigners going home. I don't care if I get quarantined for a year, I want to be somewhere with actual doctors.
Posted by: gromky   2005-10-23 07:07  

#1  I suspect the actual Chinese statement was to the effect of "once H2H is proven (anywhere), then China will shut it borders." The reality of this is a lot more complex, of course.

First of all, China will be subdivided into biological control districts. Special emergency powers will have to be used concerning transient labor, which annually amounts to 350 million people, crossing half the country. It will be amazingly difficult to restrict this traffic flow.

Beijing, which is perpetually swamped with outsiders seeking work, will face having to deport millions of homeless people out of the city. If a full-blown epidemic strikes, most likely they will set up near-rural tent cities in semi-quarantine.

As was demonstrated during the SARS outbreak, many rural cities and towns erected barricades to all outsiders. This is both an effective technique for them, and acts as a "fire break" to the national outbreak, since sick people cannot travel more than a minimum.

Tent quarantine areas will also be used when travel must exist. Once the incubation period is established, a travel regime will take into account neccessary delays of several days or more.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-10-23 00:35  

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