Here we go again, just in time for the 2024 election.
The World Health Organization has called on China to reinstate mask wearing, social distancing and staying at home if sick amid an outbreak of a mystery respiratory illness.
Cases of “undiagnosed pneumonia” have been detected at hospitals in Beijing and the province of Liaoning 500 miles northeast of the capital.
Local news also reports hospitals are “overwhelmed with sick children,” with the infected showing signs of lung inflammation and a high fever, but no cough or other symptoms that signal the flue or RSV.
From the Daily Mail:
The WHO said it has now called on China to share data on these patients, recent trends in the circulation of viruses and pressures on hospitals.
The UN health agency said it is also in contact with medics and scientists in a bid to understand the situation.
In the meantime, it urged people in China to ‘follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness’.
These include ‘recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular hand-washing’, the WHO said.
According to a Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) alert, the spike in illness in children remains a mystery and “parents questioned whether the authorities were covering up the epidemic.”
“This report suggests a widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness…It is not at all clear when this outbreak started, as it would be unusual for so many children to be affected so quickly,” an editor’s note of the alert read.
“The report does not say that any adults were affected, suggesting some exposure at the schools.”
China responded to the WHO and ProMed’s clinical inquiries on Thursday, claiming it had not detected unusual or novel pathogens.
China went on to blame the spike in illness among the children on lifting its COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the circulation of pathogens like mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children.
The mystery outbreak is similar to the chronology of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, which began in November 2019 and culminated into a global plandemic that ultimately upended how the U.S. conducted its elections with the introduction of universal mail-in ballots in 2020.
With the 2024 U.S. elections less than a year away, many are wondering if a repeat of the COVID debacle is forthcoming in the wake of this new mystery outbreak in China.
