Revisiting China’s COVID-19 ‘Walking Dead’

At the turn of 2020, the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China took to the global stage, and it wasn’t because people suddenly became more concerned for the wellbeing of the people of Hubei Province. Instigating this process were the breathtaking, horrifying photos and videos coming out of Wuhan. What we were seeing through the lens of social media appeared to be an Ebola-like plague. Victims of the virus were often seen in regular attire, out and about, seemingly going about their day, when suddenly, they were captured on video dropping like flies. It was “like Walking Dead” in the way that the virus supposedly struck its victims. 

One particular photo, which The Guardian described as the image that “captures the Wuhan coronavirus crisis,” took the world by storm.

From The Guardian:

“It is an image that captures the chilling reality of the coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan: a grey-haired man wearing a face mask lies dead on the pavement, a plastic shopping bag in one hand, as police and medical staff in full protective suits and masks prepare to take him away.”

Notably, the AFP photographer who snapped the infamous photo “could not determine how the man, who appeared to be aged in his 60s, had died,” according to the report.

The photo of the well-dressed man, who appeared to be going about his standard business when he suddenly dropped dead in the streets, was just one of the many images and videos coming out of China presenting the narrative of a virus so deadly it would strike down its victims without warning.

Newspapers from around the world ate up the “dead in streets” and “zombieland” narrative.

Strangely, photos and videos of people collapsing in the streets continued to emerge via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites that are blocked in China.

Shortly thereafter, Chinese authorities reported announced a sweeping lockdown in an attempt to “stop the virus.” A few months later, Beijing announced that it had successfully stopped the virus dead in its tracks, but only through brutal suppression measures taken to “stop the spread.” The message from the Chinese Communist Party was crystal-clear: countries around the world must lockdown immediately, and indefinitely, in an attempt to stop this deadly plague from infecting your nation’s population. The scare tactic worked. In a state of total panic, the overwhelming majority of the world followed the CCP’s “advice” on handling the virus, which I documented in my piece, “the origin story of COVID-19 lockdowns.”

Now back to the “zombieland” phenomenon.

On top of the fact that the “zombieland” situation was not seen in any other country, the idea that someone infected with COVID-19 could be walking around one moment, seemingly perfectly fine with no symptoms, and then suddenly, without notice, collapse to the ground, is not supported by any of the data on the virus. Looking back to January, none of the “walking dead” stuff that came out Wuhan seems to make any sense. Even the most vulnerable individuals still present gradually declining symptoms, which worsen over time, before their passing. We have now had many months to study the process of COVID-19 infections. The images that came out of Wuhan are not at all representative of how the novel coronavirus impacts infected human beings.

Don’t take my word for it. Take it from the CDC.

The incubation period for someone infected for COVID-19 takes an average of 4-5 days. From there, the median time from onset of symptoms to ICU admission ranges from 10-12 days (shorter for general hospitalization). On average, people who tragically pass away with COVID-19 do so after around 2 weeks of the onset of the disease.

I’ve copied the age-based charts posted below directly from the CDC website:

The “Wuhan zombieland” stories don’t make any sense, and they are not supported by any biological evidence related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It leaves us with many more questions than answers. We still don’t know the source for many, if not all of the chaotic images and videos (which, again somehow originated and arrived on U.S. social media platforms even though they are banned in China) that appeared on global media platforms. We do know that China has launched several disinformation campaigns related to the novel coronavirus, having employed armies of real and fake social media accounts to promote particular policy objectives. The January “Wuhan zombieland” narrative deserves much more scrutiny. Was it a deliberate messaging campaign, with the Western world as its target audience?

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