Not only Superheroes wear Masks
In addition, certain politicians made the mask a symbol of oppression that had to be combated. And to add insult to injury, many thought it a good idea to meet thousands of like-minded people without protection to protest the alleged Orwellian development. A behavior, by the way, that occurs again and again in the course of history in a similar way, as soon as a pandemic arises: incredulity, stubborn ignorance and then the illusion of there being no illness at all.
In January, a video of an Italian parliamentarian speaking to his colleagues while wearing a mask, asking them to wear masks to protect people with weak immune systems, like himself, spread online. He was ridiculed. On the other side of the planet not the man but the laughter caused an incredulous shake of the head. In Asia, people culturally are much more willing to accept restrictions for the good of the whole.
A Beijing grandpa becomes a hero
This goes so far that an old man became a hero, because he acted in an over the top manner even for Asian norms. When he felt he might have contracted the virus, he jumped on his bike – already shaken by fever – without contacting anyone. On public transport, he said, he would only have put others at risk. Then he cycled less crowded roads to the nearest designated hospital for Corona virus patients.
Yes, in China’s major cities, even before the peak of the outbreak, special hospitals were set up only for Corona patients to minimize the risk of infection for other patients. What certain anti-Chinese YouTube channels made of these facts, everyone can research for themselves. The dividing line to horror films was often fluid and equally unrealistic.
Luckily, the old gentleman seemed blessed with such a good memory that he provided valuable services in the follow-up. He could almost meticulously remember his contacts of the last few days and put everything on the record. The medics immediately succeeded in conducting a very extensive follow-up and effectively contained a new outbreak in Beijing.
Freedom fighter?
However, there are also examples of very irresponsible behavior. At the height of the danger, the compounds in Beijing and other major cities were sealed off and, above all, potentially infected people were obliged not to leave their homes.
Unlike in the West, however, there was no outcry. Everyone understood the measures as reasonable, radical for sure, but necessary. Only a few weeks later, the video of a woman in a department store was trending on the internet, which led not to support with this heroine of freedom, but to a storm of indignation.
She had sneaked out of quarantine several times and had rushed from one Corona testing center to the next. Mask? Of course not! Her public mental breakdown occurred when she learned that her test was positive and that she had put countless people in danger on her trips. Immediately afterwards, a shitstorm poured out on the woman, her family, who apparently had not monitored the quarantine well enough. That it is difficult to tackle someone, who intentionally violates instructions in this situation, is an ongoing concern in East and West.