U.S. 'still a playground' compared to lockdowns in China: NYT writer
By Gong Zhe

The latest in New York Times (NYT) coverage of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. described the country as a "playground" compared to strict lockdowns in China.

"Americans can take domestic flights, drive where they want, and roam streets and parks. Despite restrictions, everyone seems to know someone discreetly arranging play dates for children, holding backyard barbecues or meeting people on dating apps," wrote Donald G. McNeil Jr. on the newspaper's website.

"China did not allow Wuhan, Nanjing or other cities to reopen until intensive surveillance found zero new cases for 14 straight days, the virus's incubation period."

The comparison didn't stop at the quarantines. The death rate in the U.S. is also slowly going in line with China's, which is a bit above 5.5 percent at the moment.

Since China's COVID-19 situation is seemingly coming to an end, the rate is more reliable than countries that are still witnessing increasing deaths.

The NYT article is long and thorough, detailing the pandemic in numbers. It predicted the pandemic will not disappear in a short time but fade away in a slow fashion. It also said recovered people are having societal advantage over people who haven't caught the disease.

On the tracking of potential infections, McNeil noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only has 600 people tracking the close contacts of patients, which is far fewer than those in China.

"China hired and trained 9,000 in Wuhan alone," the reporter noted.

The article also included an analysis of the global image of the U.S. during the pandemic, quoting other researchers to say the Trump administration is hurting Americans by blaming China for the pandemic, because China has helped other countries to fight the crisis and gained global influence, while the U.S. is busy defunding the World Health Organization.

It's clear that some researchers in the U.S. have become aware that investing into the blame game will only backfire.