China Is Imposing Strict Lockdowns To Contain New COVID Outbreaks. But There’s A Cost

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A community worker delivered daily necessities to a household in Ruili City in China’s Yunnan Province during a July lockdown triggered by COVID cases. Ruili closed off its city proper and asked all residents to quarantine at home. Classes were suspended. Most establishments were closed with the exception of markets, hospitals and pharmacies. Restaurants could only offer takeout food.

Wang Guansen/Xinhua /Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima

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Wang Guansen/Xinhua /Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima

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Police officers (left and second from right) wear protective gear as they explain how to fight the spread of Covid-19 to workers at Nanjing port in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on August 4.

Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

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Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

Police officers (left and second from right) wear protective gear as they explain how to fight the spread of Covid-19 to workers at Nanjing port in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on August 4.

Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

China’s global commercial ties are also taking a hit. International shipping has been seriously snarled up by quarantines at major Chinese ports. Entire factories have to go offline if a region is shut down. Three-week quarantines and travel restrictions have diminished China’s ability to attract foreign workers.

«In many cases they were unable to or didn’t want to travel to China because of travel restrictions, says Max Lee, a manager at JobRight Human Resources, a recruiting firm that works with Chinese firms.

«Our number one issue right now is mobility and its impact on business continuity. It’s getting the executives in and out of China and with their families, says Ker Gibbs, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

Slowing domestic consumption, coupled with the delta variant, caused Nick Marro, a macro economist with the Economist’s Intelligence Unit, to shave 0.4% off his China economic growth forecast: «The COVID restrictions kind of pushed us to make that call just because we are seeing quite a strict, quite a severe approach to ensuring that the outbreak remains controllable.

The Beijing Olympics has its own set of pandemic rules

Yet Beijing has committed to host the Winter Olympics in less than half a year. Thousands of athletes and reporters from all over the world are expected to attend. Beijing Olympics organizers have already said they will ask staff to quarantine in government facilities before and after entering game venues and has barred international spectators.

Beijing is also planning three «bubbles with limited access around major athletic facilities in and around the city, according to two diplomats working on Olympics access issues. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Visiting reporters will need to leave right after the games and will not be allowed to travel to other parts of China, as was possible during Beijing’s previous 2008 summer Olympics.

These measures – and a lackluster Tokyo Olympics — have bolstered fears that China’s coronavirus prevention measures could stymie independent coverage of China during the games, turning an athletic spectacle meant to highlight global engagement into a highly-managed stage-show.

«Will [journalists] have any freedom of movement? Will they be able to move beyond just where the games are being held so they can understand some of the broader fabric of the nation that is hosting the games? asks Bill Holstein, a board member of the Overseas Press Club, a professional association.