China deserves credit, not criticism, for Covid-19 handling

IT is unfortunate that political and economic fears have infected the national conversation about the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), and made China and the Chinese people the devils in the epidemic saga because an objective assessment of the situation casts China in a far more positive light. Rather than criticizing the Chinese government for what it did or did not do in the course of fighting the Covid-19 outbreak or demonizing the Chinese people, we ought to give them credit for likely preventing a much greater global disaster.

At press time, the Covid-19 epidemic is by no means under control. There have been some hopeful observations that the spread of the illness is “slowing down,” but it may be too early to draw that conclusion. New cases of the infection are appearing in China and elsewhere, and the death toll is still hovering about 100 per day.