The system put in place focused on having doctors across China put patient data into a centralized database. This way central authorities could monitor if there are any new outbreaks. It suppose to work in theory. In July 2019, eight thousand Chinese health officials conducted a massive online drill focusing on how to handle an infectious disease outbreak. In the style of the 2002 SARS outbreak, the officials raced to test how quickly and effectively they could track, identify, and contain the virus, including by notifying Beijing. It worked in the simulation. But in Th December 2019 Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, it did not work in reality because the Chinese Communist Party's political apparatus makes it impossible for even the best design system to function properly. | The system put in place focused on having doctors across China put patient data into a centralized database. This way central authorities could monitor if there are any new outbreaks. It suppose to work in theory. In July 2019, eight thousand Chinese health officials conducted a massive online drill focusing on how to handle an infectious disease outbreak. In the style of the 2002 SARS outbreak, the officials raced to test how quickly and effectively they could track, identify, and contain the virus, including by notifying Beijing. It worked in the simulation. But in Th December 2019 Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, it did not work in reality because the Chinese Communist Party's political apparatus makes it impossible for even the best design system to function properly. |