Thread by @aliceysu

Read our latest #Wuhan #coronavirus stories: 1) China’s strong centralized control enables mass mobilization - 50m ppl on lockdown! - that would be unthinkable anywhere else. But that top-down grip is also what enabled this crisis in the first place latimes.com/world-nation/s…

2) On the ground, medical workers' loved ones weep as they send them into an epidemic that's killed more than 130 so far & infected ~6,000, more than doubling in just the last two days
latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Within Wuhan, residents struggle to find hospital beds for their sick family members. One 32 yr old woman's husband & parents are all sick, but they can't check for coronavirus bc the doctors have no test kits.
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There's a designated hospital for virus patients, but she can't get him in, bc he needs to be referred by a neighborhood committee first. Bureaucracy is obstructing the response just as much as shortage of staff & resources #Wuhan #coronavirus

3) The U.S. govt evacuated 201 Americans from #Wuhan today - they will be screened in Alaska before arriving in California. Others were left behind, some by choice, some without option @cindychangLA @latimes latimes.com/world-nation/s…

4) Meanwhile in #HongKong, the #Wuhan virus is additional fuel for the flames of distrust & anger at HK and BJ govts that have already blazed for 7 months @dhpierson @latimes latimes.com/world-nation/s…

5) China is currently implementing the largest quarantine in human history. Will it work? Experts weigh in @skarlamangla @latimes latimes.com/science/story/…

@skarlamangla @latimes 6) Our story about a migrant worker who rushed home to Hubei from Guangdong, trying to save his family from the #coronavirus & prevent his village & area from becoming a second #Wuhan - only to be arrested latimes.com/world-nation/s…

@skarlamangla @latimes Gao Fei's brother drove a taxi between Qichun county & Wuhan. But bc local govt didn't warn the public about #coronavirus initially, Gao's brother only laughed at Gao's warnings to wear a face mask and avoid #Wuhan. Gao mailed him a box of N95 masks that went ignored.

When Gao rushed back to his village on Jan. 22, just before #Wuhan went on lockdown, he met w village & county officials, urging them to provide medical supplies & raise awareness. "We don't have orders from above," they shrugged.

Now the outbreak's in full swing, & all resources are flooding toward #Wuhan. Gao's county hospital is running out of masks for the doctors & nurses. Local officials sent armed police to get more from a factory this week, he said - but they came back empty-handed.

Meanwhile in #Wuhan, a doctor said 12 out of 59 doctors at his hospital, himself included, were working while sick w fever, cough, chest pain & lung infection - symptoms of the new #coronavirus. But they had no test kits to diagnose themselves, and no time to take tests.

Anxious & angry after donating the last 10 masks from his brother's box to the county hospital, Gao wrote a tweet criticizing central authorities for their arrogance in refusing outside help, & demanding Xi's removal. The next day, he was arrested. That tweet has been deleted.

But an earlier tweet remains:
来吧，这是一场政府忽视生命与民间自救的对抗，拥有真相是我们自救最大的武器
“Bring it on. This is a confrontation between a government that neglects life and a people who are saving themselves. Truth is our greatest weapon for our own salvation.”

7) "Why are you here? Go home. This is an extreme situation. You have to be safe." Villages across China wall themselves off against outsiders in fear of the new #coronavirus
latimes.com/world-nation/s…

8) And countries across Asia - and the world, now - begin closing doors to China and Chinese travelers as fear spreads faster than the #coronavirus @vicjkim @latimes
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@vicjkim @latimes 9) Masked men in hazmat suits and masks showed up at Fang Bin's door Sunday evening, demanding to quarantine him. But he wasn't sick, and none of them were doctors. #coronavirus #wuhan latimes.com/world-nation/s…