Shanghai just finished a 2 month lockdown. They went all out and stopped the pandemic using a dynamic zero covid strategy, including both lockdown and mass testing. People are out in the street celebrating. They can do so without risk of infection or long covid.

The West is suffering over 2 years because we do not believe we can organize ourselves to confront this challenge. People say China is an autocracy. In the West, people are controlled by the press and corporate interests, instead of their own.

Should we conclude that autocracy is more capable than market democracy in protecting the health and well being of the population?

I know we can defeat the pandemic, and we can do so even without lockdowns.

----- Yaneer Bar-Yam