Jan. 22, 2020, Michael Levenson, New York Times
Scale of China’s Wuhan Shutdown Is Believed to Be Without Precedent
In sealing off a city of 11 million people, China is trying to halt a coronavirus outbreak using a tactic with a complicated history of ethical concerns.
In closing off Wuhan, a city of more than 11 million people, China deployed on Thursday morning a centuries-old public health tactic to prevent the spread of infectious disease — this time, a mysterious respiratory infection caused by a coronavirus.
Experts said the stunning scale of the shutdown, isolating a major urban transit hub larger than New York City, was without precedent.
“It’s an unbelievable undertaking,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan, adding that he had never heard of so many people being cordoned off as a disease-prevention measure.
Still, “people are going to get out,” he said. “It’s going to be leaky.”
China’s expanding measures
To combat the spread of the virus, which first appeared at the end of December and has killed at least 17 people and sickened more than 600, the Chinese government said it would cancel planes and trains leaving Wuhan beginning Thursday, and suspend buses, subways and ferries within it.
