December 28, 2022

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By German Lopez

Good morning. The end of China's restrictions has exposed two major vulnerabilities in the country.

Covid patients in the lobby of a hospital in Chongqing, China, on Friday.Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China's surge

China's Covid outbreak appears to be going from bad to worse.

In recent days, local governments have reported hundreds of thousands of infections a day. Sick patients are crowding hospital hallways, videos obtained by The Times showed. In a video from The Associated Press, a medical worker at a hospital in Zhuozhou, a city near Beijing, asked that a patient be taken elsewhere because the facility was out of oxygen.

"China's medical system is already fragile even in the best of times — people rely on hospital E.R.s for even basic care," said my colleague Isabelle Qian, who covers China for The Times. "Then, the sudden reversal of China's 'zero Covid' policy caught hospitals off guard."

The situation is difficult to track in real time because China does not release reliable Covid data. Many experts believe the numbers it does publish are manipulated. But the stories and videos coming out of the country suggest the crisis is worsening.

The rapid spread of Covid in any country is a concern to health officials around the world because unchecked outbreaks create more opportunities for the virus to mutate into a more contagious or deadlier variant. Those fears are particularly acute for China, a country of 1.4 billion people and the place where the virus originated.

China recently relaxed its strict "zero Covid" rules, after unusually widespread protests against the measures. The policies had prevented people from leaving their homes if cases were detected in their area and required regular testing for much of the population. They also forced overseas travelers, including Chinese nationals, to stay in quarantine for as long as two months to enter the country. (That requirement is going away, too, officials said on Monday.)

But the end of the policies exposed two major vulnerabilities that Chinese leaders have not effectively addressed. First, China has not vaccinated large segments of its most vulnerable, older population: While 90 percent of all Chinese were reportedly fully vaccinated as of November, less than 66 percent of those 80 and older were fully vaccinated and only 40 percent had gotten a booster.

Second, China does not have much natural immunity from past Covid waves. Its lockdown policies have kept the virus out of the country, probably saving lives in the short term. But they have also left its population more vulnerable to the disease than those who have been repeatedly exposed to the virus, as this newsletter previously explained.

It's a sharp contrast to the situation in many other countries. Consider the U.S.: Nearly all Americans 65 and older have gotten a Covid vaccine (although less than 37 percent have gotten the latest booster). Americans have also built up natural immunity from prior Covid waves, providing some protection. That combination has allowed American life to return to some sense of normalcy, without recent years' levels of hospitalization and death.

Of course, the U.S.'s more lax approach has its own cost: Covid has killed nearly 1.1 million Americans since 2020, according to the C.D.C. China's strategy has prevented the virus from causing that level of death since it first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019, according to the country's available data. But without sufficient preparation for the end of "zero Covid," China is now facing what might be its worst outbreak yet.

For more

These videos show how medical staff are outnumbered and working sick as China's health care system buckles.
"Zero Covid" proved China's government was good at control, but the aftermath has shown it's not so good at governance, The Times's Li Yuan writes.

Continue reading the main story


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THE LATEST NEWS

Severe Weather

Going through security at Denver International Airport yesterday.Daniel Brenner for The New York Times

Southwest Airlines canceled thousands more flights today. It could be days until normal service resumes, the company said.
A 22-year-old trapped in her car, a man found dead in a snowbank on his birthday: Families are mourning nearly 30 people who died in the Buffalo area blizzard.
Parts of the western United States are bracing for a storm system that could bring days of heavy rain and snow.

Politics

The Supreme Court said a pandemic-era measure that restricted migration at the southwestern border would remain in place for now.
The Jan. 6 committee released more transcripts, showing how Donald Trump considered "blanket pardons" for those charged in the Capitol riot.
The leadership of the Republican Party remained silent over Congressman-elect George Santos's falsehoods about his background.

MORNING READS

The grounds of Père-Lachaise cemetery.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Celebrity cemetery: Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf and other legends are buried there. And now it's a haven for parakeets, foxes and tawny owls.

Holiday treasures: Enjoy a bit of delight on every December day.

The year in Well: These small steps can improve mental health in 2023.

Advice from Wirecutter: Enable Apple's new security feature.

Lives Lived: Nélida Piñon is widely regarded as one of Brazil's greatest contemporary writers, daring in her whimsical use of religious symbolism and her exploration of sexuality and eroticism. Piñon died at 85.

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

The Luka Game: The Mavericks star Luka Doncic did something last night the N.B.A. hadn't seen — a 60-point, 21-rebound, 10-assist performance. Shaquille O'Neal was the last player to record at least 60 points and 20 rebounds in a game.

Braves' core locked in: Atlanta signed the newly acquired catcher Sean Murphy to a six-year, $73 million contract. He's the seventh core Braves player to receive an extension ranging from six to 10 years.

Continue reading the main story


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ARTS AND IDEAS

Davóne Tines in a scene in "Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)" at the Park Avenue Armory.Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Breakout stars of 2022

This year gave us breakout stars across the world of entertainment. Maya Salam, an editor on The Times's Culture desk, wrote about seven who captured our attention, including:

Davóne Tines, classical music: Tines, a bass-baritone, made his Carnegie Hall debut with his highly personal, carefully curated program "Recital No. 1: MASS."

Quinta Brunson, TV: Her show, "Abbott Elementary," is a warmhearted but not saccharine network sitcom with a pitch-perfect ensemble cast.

Julie Benko, theater: As drama swirled around who would play Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl," this former understudy seized the opportunity.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Julia Gartland for The New York Times

Collard greens are often cooked down with smoked turkey or pork neck bones. (Here are more Kwanzaa recipes.)

What to Read

These six new paperbacks.

What to Watch

In "Corsage," the empress of Austria begins to chafe against her predictably cosseted life.

Now Time to Play

NYT

The pangram from yesterday's Spelling Bee was headwind. Here is today's puzzle.

Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Absolutely zero chance (five letters).

And here's today's Wordle.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

P.S. Elizabeth Carr, America's first baby conceived by I.V.F., was born on this day 41 years ago. Her picture appeared on The Times's front page the next day.

Here's today's front page.

"The Daily" is about the James Webb Space Telescope.

Lauren Hard, Lauren Jackson, Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick and Tom Wright-Piersanti contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.