Is the Benefit of China’s Zero-COVID Policy Worth the Cost?
The Chinese strategy may be more economically sound than many assume, but it is time for the country to adopt a less severe approach.
A nucleic acid test being performed in Shenzhen, China. Credit: Shengpengpeng Cai via Unsplash
Before COVID-19 vaccines were developed and distributed, China’s strict approach to controlling the virus resulted in fewer deaths and a much lower death rate per million people than in many other countries. But while these successes were impressive in late 2020 and early 2021, effective vaccines and treatments have become readily available since then, leading the World Health Organization to declare that the end of the pandemic is in sight.
Yet China has maintained its&
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