5 ms·

I don’t recall a similar announcement even at the height of COVID. Do we know what’s now changed?

Moissanite 4y ago
Expectations, I'd bet. During peak covid, everything was a bit like this - but now the perception is closer to "business as usual, with economic headwinds".
Veliladon 4y ago
One of Foxconn's biggest factories has been locked down because of COVID. They're one of the biggest suppliers of iPhone final assembly labour. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-under-new-covid-lockdown-in-china-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-...
- lumost 4y ago
  - Arn_Thor 4y ago
    This is a consequence of China’s zero-Covid policy. Nationally, the instruction is to eliminate outbreaks, even of new and milder variants. Leading up to the party congress local authorities appear to have reported inaccurately low numbers to avoid bad news for the leadership. Now, after the congress, the task is to quickly eliminate outbreaks to avoid the need for even harsher measures like full-city lockdowns like seen in Shanghai earlier this year. Additionally China has spent the past three years telling its population that the rest of the world has been irresponsibly murdering its citizens by adopting a “live with Covid” policy. So when rumors of a possible lockdown of the factory or its economic zone started spreading, employees fled either because they feared an outbreak or because they didn’t want to get locked in there for an indeterminate period of time.
    - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
      - jstummbillig 4y ago
        What have you heard about it? I find it hard to assess with the currently available information (and, apparently, so does the world given the huge disparities in politics). Long covid is real and scary. So are cancer, heart attacks and car crashes, but it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis of the possible counter measures available at societal level because of that.
        pacificmint 4y ago
        The best estimate I found was from May of this year. At the time they estimated somewhere between 7.7 and 23 million cases of long Covid in the US. Compare that with 1.6 million people getting a cancer diagnosis every year, about 40 thousand traffic fatalities and 2.2 million injured in traffic accidents.
        jstummbillig 4y ago
        Well, that sounds fairly staggering. Do you have a source link?
        pacificmint 4y ago
        The long Covid and cancer numbers are from The NY Times podcast [1]. The traffic injuries and fatalities are from Wikipedia [2]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/podcasts/the-daily/long-covid-symptoms.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/podcasts/the-daily/long-c... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
        ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        > it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis Western leaders aren't doing any cost/benefit analysis at all - except to their political career. We have a range of very low-cost, technological measures avaliable. For exampme upgrading schools with proper ventillation. We have scientific studies that show this would reduce likelihood of infection for everythint, from COVID to common cold. It would reduce CO2 concentrations in classrooms and help children be more alert and awake. There has been zero budget allocated to them. In London I have seen UV sterilisation installed on handrails of the escalators, and ROI on that will be mostly zero.
  - gowings97 4y ago
    China has maintained a zero Covid policy and has yet to lift it.
  - ericmay 4y ago
    I think if it isn’t now it will be in China. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a retaliatory move for the recent chip ban. No evidence of that whatsoever, pure speculation.
  - beebmam 4y ago
    It seems highly plausible to me.
jonas21 4y ago
The last few months are the height of COVID in China.
- dehrmann 4y ago
  This winter might be especially bad for covid in China. It's 1-2 years behind the rest of the world.
  - rob74 4y ago
    The policy in China is 1-2 years behind. Everyone else has realized that with Omicron a zero Covid policy is no longer feasible (and, where vaccination rates are high, not needed either), but that hasn't yet gotten through to Xi (or it has, but he thinks reversing the policy will somehow cause him to "lose face").
    - dehrmann 4y ago
      Not just policy, but immunity. Barring mass covid parties, it'll take China 1-2 years to get immunity on par with the rest of the world.
moviedo 4y ago
"Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain." From different news outlets and youtube channels that cover china's zero covid policy I feel the statement above referring to the health and safety of the Foxconn workers is pure PR puff. I really like this youtube channel call China Insights witch gives some decent information on this exact Foxconn issues and how the workers are fleeing the lock-down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc
smallmind 4y ago
Three possible reasons: 1. Workers only get food if they show up for their shift. If they are sick and don't work, there is no place to get food in the Foxconn campus. Due to the lockdown, the workers can't order food delivered online if sick. 2. When local governments force people to quarantine, they are supposed to provide basic meals. However, it seems most workers who were quarantined recently did not receive any food or water for days because the local government expected Foxconn to provide it instead. 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY
- bpye 4y ago
  Well any one of those three sound absolutely horrendous.
  - throwaway290 4y ago
    > 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. This is now just routine, very easy way to get views (courtesy government of some country that chose to hush the beginnings of a pandemic).
mensetmanusman 4y ago
It is now the height of Covid in China because they refused effective western vaccine help (because apparently that hurts Xi’s feelings).

Expectations, I'd bet. During peak covid, everything was a bit like this - but now the perception is closer to "business as usual, with economic headwinds".

Veliladon 4y ago

One of Foxconn's biggest factories has been locked down because of COVID. They're one of the biggest suppliers of iPhone final assembly labour. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-under-new-covid-lockdown-in-china-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-...

lumost 4y ago
- Arn_Thor 4y ago
  This is a consequence of China’s zero-Covid policy. Nationally, the instruction is to eliminate outbreaks, even of new and milder variants. Leading up to the party congress local authorities appear to have reported inaccurately low numbers to avoid bad news for the leadership. Now, after the congress, the task is to quickly eliminate outbreaks to avoid the need for even harsher measures like full-city lockdowns like seen in Shanghai earlier this year. Additionally China has spent the past three years telling its population that the rest of the world has been irresponsibly murdering its citizens by adopting a “live with Covid” policy. So when rumors of a possible lockdown of the factory or its economic zone started spreading, employees fled either because they feared an outbreak or because they didn’t want to get locked in there for an indeterminate period of time.
  - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
    - jstummbillig 4y ago
      What have you heard about it? I find it hard to assess with the currently available information (and, apparently, so does the world given the huge disparities in politics). Long covid is real and scary. So are cancer, heart attacks and car crashes, but it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis of the possible counter measures available at societal level because of that.
      - pacificmint 4y ago
        The best estimate I found was from May of this year. At the time they estimated somewhere between 7.7 and 23 million cases of long Covid in the US. Compare that with 1.6 million people getting a cancer diagnosis every year, about 40 thousand traffic fatalities and 2.2 million injured in traffic accidents.
        jstummbillig 4y ago
        Well, that sounds fairly staggering. Do you have a source link?
        pacificmint 4y ago
        The long Covid and cancer numbers are from The NY Times podcast [1]. The traffic injuries and fatalities are from Wikipedia [2]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/podcasts/the-daily/long-covid-symptoms.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/podcasts/the-daily/long-c... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
      - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        > it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis Western leaders aren't doing any cost/benefit analysis at all - except to their political career. We have a range of very low-cost, technological measures avaliable. For exampme upgrading schools with proper ventillation. We have scientific studies that show this would reduce likelihood of infection for everythint, from COVID to common cold. It would reduce CO2 concentrations in classrooms and help children be more alert and awake. There has been zero budget allocated to them. In London I have seen UV sterilisation installed on handrails of the escalators, and ROI on that will be mostly zero.
- gowings97 4y ago
  China has maintained a zero Covid policy and has yet to lift it.
- ericmay 4y ago
  I think if it isn’t now it will be in China. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a retaliatory move for the recent chip ban. No evidence of that whatsoever, pure speculation.
- beebmam 4y ago
  It seems highly plausible to me.

jonas21 4y ago

The last few months are the height of COVID in China.

dehrmann 4y ago
This winter might be especially bad for covid in China. It's 1-2 years behind the rest of the world.
- rob74 4y ago
  The policy in China is 1-2 years behind. Everyone else has realized that with Omicron a zero Covid policy is no longer feasible (and, where vaccination rates are high, not needed either), but that hasn't yet gotten through to Xi (or it has, but he thinks reversing the policy will somehow cause him to "lose face").
  - dehrmann 4y ago
    Not just policy, but immunity. Barring mass covid parties, it'll take China 1-2 years to get immunity on par with the rest of the world.

moviedo 4y ago

"Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain." From different news outlets and youtube channels that cover china's zero covid policy I feel the statement above referring to the health and safety of the Foxconn workers is pure PR puff. I really like this youtube channel call China Insights witch gives some decent information on this exact Foxconn issues and how the workers are fleeing the lock-down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc

smallmind 4y ago

Three possible reasons: 1. Workers only get food if they show up for their shift. If they are sick and don't work, there is no place to get food in the Foxconn campus. Due to the lockdown, the workers can't order food delivered online if sick. 2. When local governments force people to quarantine, they are supposed to provide basic meals. However, it seems most workers who were quarantined recently did not receive any food or water for days because the local government expected Foxconn to provide it instead. 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY

bpye 4y ago
Well any one of those three sound absolutely horrendous.
- throwaway290 4y ago
  > 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. This is now just routine, very easy way to get views (courtesy government of some country that chose to hush the beginnings of a pandemic).

mensetmanusman 4y ago

It is now the height of Covid in China because they refused effective western vaccine help (because apparently that hurts Xi’s feelings).