Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
WSJ Report: China Appears To Be Stalling On Sharing Information About Wuhan Market Selling Wild Animals
The Wall Street Journal: On The Ground In Wuhan, Signs Of China Stalling Probe Of Coronavirus Origins
Around 1 a.m. on Dec. 31, Lu Junqing woke to a phone call from his boss at a local disinfection company. Get a team together and head to the Huanan market, he was told: “Bring your best kit.” Mr. Lu knew the market, a sprawling maze of stalls near a railway station, but had no clue it was the suspected source of a mysterious illness spreading across this city, later identified as Covid-19. When he got there, local officials directed him to a cluster of stalls selling wild animals for meat or traditional medicine. There were carcasses and caged live specimens, including snakes, dogs, rabbits and badgers, he said. (Page and Khan, 5/12)
CIDRAP: Scientists: 'Exactly Zero' Evidence COVID-19 Came From A Lab
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Internet has been teeming with provocative conspiracy theories that the novel coronavirus was (1) created in a Wuhan, China, lab and deployed as a bioweapon or (2) derived from bats, grown on tissue culture, intentionally or accidentally transmitted to a researcher, and released into the community. (Van Beusekom, 5/12)
Reuters: Slowly But Steadily, China Strives To Make Widespread Virus Testing The New Normal
Beijing resident Wang Yukun was happy to comply in April when the construction firm he works for told him he’d need to take a test for the novel coronavirus before he could come back to work, even though he was at low risk of having the disease. (Goh and Zhang, 5/13)
The New York Times: China’s Coronavirus Back-To-Work Lessons: Masks And Vigilance
BMW workers take their own temperature three times a day and submit the results via an internal chat app. Foxconn, the electronics giant, tells employees to wash their hands before and after handling documents. A ride-share driver wipes down his car daily and sends video proof to headquarters. The world needs rules and guidelines for the post-coronavirus workplace, and China is the first laboratory. (Stevenson and Li, 5/12)
