4 ms·

Diseases are rivalled only by war in bringing out the best in human creativity and ingenuity.

hd9 7y ago
Pure nonsense imho. Everytime there is an epidemic are new 1000 bed hospitals going to be erected overnight? Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? God knows how many other hospitals and construction projects were thrown into chaos by crews being pulled from all over the place. This is the kind of reaction seen when too much power lies with one guy up the heirarchy and he panics and overrules all his underlings. Wants to give an appearance of solving a problem much more than actually solving it. I have seen this kind of stuff happening at global software crisis centers, where things escalate quickly and some guy up the hierarchy panics. Has too much power and just overrules everyone below. "We have to do something! Right now!!!" Bangs table!!! Underlings without push back obey. Those who do are pushed out and resources are mindlessly pulled from all over and massively squandered. With the PR dept blaring away about decisive leadership. China has all the ingredients for that kind of decision making. The bug will die out in a couple weeks and then this will be a standing monument to how the herd reacts under stress.
- Brave-Steak 7y ago
  Seemed to have helped the last time they did exactly this. So I don't see it as an overreaction or completely irrational. Reports say that the makeshift hospital they built in record time for SARS in Beijing turned out to treat 1/7th of all the SARS patients at the time. And judging by the projected infection rate numbers, and their medical infrastructure already being stressed so much by a load that it probably wasn't designed to handle, building these hospitals could very well be a good move. > Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? I'm sure there are regions that aren't facing even remotely the same crisis as Wuhan, where they can divert resources from. It's really not a huge deal. Unless you want to make the claim that all of China is going to succumb to this such that a diversion of resources wouldn't be possible at all? That's a stretch.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    The current hospitals are based on the 2003 design. One reason that they can be constructed so quickly. (I was skeptical myself initially. Looks like it's actually coming together.)
- oefrha 7y ago
  > Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? Apparently thousands of medical professionals have already been sent from other provinces. There are millions of medical professionals in China so sending even 1% would be night and day difference locally while not throwing other hospitals into chaos. Throwing other construction projects into chaos? That’s utter nonsense, no normal construction projects would be active during the Chinese New Year period.
- lowdose 7y ago
  You definitely have a point but sometimes showing off top-level commitment for a cause can make the difference. The live construction video feed can boost morale significantly by spinning the narrative that actual work gets done .
- blackrock 7y ago
  While you do have some good points, it’s possible that the severity and danger of this virus, required a different approach. Some people in the West suggested to use an existing school or sports stadium, and while this may work in the West, the question is: Does Wuhan even have such a public facility available? Some (unverified) reports were already suggesting that the city’s existing hospitals and facilities were already overburdened. At least something like this could help keep the very sick isolated from the others, and allow them to gracefully recover. Or if they are too far gone, then it would keep them isolated from those that can be saved. I agree, I think this will blow over in a few months, and they’ll get it contained, while they starve out the virus. And that might only have been possible, because the central government mandated the quarantine, which did more to just inform people to keep their distance from others, and to wear protective gear while in public. We’ll see in a few months how effective this all is.

hd9 7y ago

Pure nonsense imho. Everytime there is an epidemic are new 1000 bed hospitals going to be erected overnight? Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? God knows how many other hospitals and construction projects were thrown into chaos by crews being pulled from all over the place. This is the kind of reaction seen when too much power lies with one guy up the heirarchy and he panics and overrules all his underlings. Wants to give an appearance of solving a problem much more than actually solving it. I have seen this kind of stuff happening at global software crisis centers, where things escalate quickly and some guy up the hierarchy panics. Has too much power and just overrules everyone below. "We have to do something! Right now!!!" Bangs table!!! Underlings without push back obey. Those who do are pushed out and resources are mindlessly pulled from all over and massively squandered. With the PR dept blaring away about decisive leadership. China has all the ingredients for that kind of decision making. The bug will die out in a couple weeks and then this will be a standing monument to how the herd reacts under stress.

Brave-Steak 7y ago
Seemed to have helped the last time they did exactly this. So I don't see it as an overreaction or completely irrational. Reports say that the makeshift hospital they built in record time for SARS in Beijing turned out to treat 1/7th of all the SARS patients at the time. And judging by the projected infection rate numbers, and their medical infrastructure already being stressed so much by a load that it probably wasn't designed to handle, building these hospitals could very well be a good move. > Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? I'm sure there are regions that aren't facing even remotely the same crisis as Wuhan, where they can divert resources from. It's really not a huge deal. Unless you want to make the claim that all of China is going to succumb to this such that a diversion of resources wouldn't be possible at all? That's a stretch.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  The current hospitals are based on the 2003 design. One reason that they can be constructed so quickly. (I was skeptical myself initially. Looks like it's actually coming together.)
oefrha 7y ago
> Where the heck are doctors and nurses going to come from? Do they have excess trained people just hanging out at the mall? Apparently thousands of medical professionals have already been sent from other provinces. There are millions of medical professionals in China so sending even 1% would be night and day difference locally while not throwing other hospitals into chaos. Throwing other construction projects into chaos? That’s utter nonsense, no normal construction projects would be active during the Chinese New Year period.
lowdose 7y ago
You definitely have a point but sometimes showing off top-level commitment for a cause can make the difference. The live construction video feed can boost morale significantly by spinning the narrative that actual work gets done .
blackrock 7y ago
While you do have some good points, it’s possible that the severity and danger of this virus, required a different approach. Some people in the West suggested to use an existing school or sports stadium, and while this may work in the West, the question is: Does Wuhan even have such a public facility available? Some (unverified) reports were already suggesting that the city’s existing hospitals and facilities were already overburdened. At least something like this could help keep the very sick isolated from the others, and allow them to gracefully recover. Or if they are too far gone, then it would keep them isolated from those that can be saved. I agree, I think this will blow over in a few months, and they’ll get it contained, while they starve out the virus. And that might only have been possible, because the central government mandated the quarantine, which did more to just inform people to keep their distance from others, and to wear protective gear while in public. We’ll see in a few months how effective this all is.