China finally lifts the lockdown on the city of Wuhan, where the Coronavirus first appeared.

Passengers line up for one of the first trains out of the city. BBC/AFP.

China has finally lifted the lockdown on the city of Wuhan where the Coronavirus first appeared and devastated the city. BBC. China has issued a smartphone app and anyone who is rated "green" on the app is allowed to leave the city and travel. The lockdown began on January 23rd. The lifting of the lockdown comes after China had reported zero deaths from the Coronavirus for the first time since deaths began. Some restrictions are still in place and schools have not reopened. China is not Coronavirus free and new lockdowns have been put into place where the virus has popped up again. 

My Comment:

This is fairly good news and will likely give hope to the billions of people still in lockdown. If the Chinese are being honest here it shows that the virus can be defeated enough to where you can open up travel and businesses. 

Wuhan was in dire straits for a long time. China went way further with their lockdown there than anyone else has been willing to do. They pretty much banned all travel, even for essential services, and even welded people into their apartment buildings. The people there couldn't even leave to get food, they had to rely on the government to deliver food. 

These extreme actions seem to have worked in the end. If we trust the numbers out of China, the virus is mostly defeated, with only scattered cases mostly from other countries. If true it represents a huge victory for China, who has been rightly criticized for their early response to the infection. 

But can we believe the Chinese Government? We know that the government was lying quite a bit in the early stages of this virus. And I think that the communists would have no problem in opening up their country early to jumpstart the economy even if it means people get sick and die. 

Still, I don't think the government is lying in this case. If they were hiding a large number of cases in Wuhan I think it would be leaking out onto the internet. Chinese people know how to use VPN's and how to evade the internet filters the government has, so if it was happening we would see it. 

That being said, I do think that China is risking a new outbreak in Wuhan. With people leaving their houses and traveling it's very possible the virus could pop up again. Their app is meant to prevent that and I am guessing that if you haven't tested negative for Coronavirus, or tested positive and recovered, you won't be assigned the "green" category.

I think that something like this is probably coming to the United States. After the virus peaks and the lockdowns start to be lifted I don't think we will go back to normal right away. The most vulnerable people will be asked to stay home while the young and healthy will get back to work. More localized lockdowns will be put into place as the virus pops up. This won't be the normal status quo but it will at least be better than the lockdown state we are in now.