CGTN: The Chinese are sharing their COVID experiences as policy optimized
BEIJING, Dec. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Vincent Zhong is a Chinese digital gadget YouTuber with more than 372,000 followers. Aside from smartphones, earbuds and laptops, Zhong recently unboxed a special object: COVID-19.
“I’m screwed,” Zhong said in a video showing a positive COVID test result on December 2. “I want to share with you my experience with the virus and hopefully, you can learn more about it and get prepared.”
Zhong described his feelings during the first eight days after getting infected, saying the virus is “definitely more than a big flu” and can bring “serious trouble.”
The video is the most viewed one on Zhong’s channel for the last month, with more than 200,000 clicks and over 2,000 comments.
Zhong also posted the video on Bilibili, a Chinese-language YouTube alternative, attracting more than five million views and a fierce discussion among the over 18,000 comments.
“This is the new normal for us,” said the top comment, which got nearly 50,000 likes. “We are responsible for our own health.”
“The precondition is,” said another comment with 30,000 likes. “Zhong was a healthy adult with no underlying disease.”
Many online celebrities, health-oriented or not, are creating content about people catching COVID on Chinese platforms just like Zhong, as China optimized its control policy on the disease.
Founder of e-commerce website JD.com, Liu Qiangdong, recently shared his experiences in the internal network of the company, saying the disease is “less serious than common cold.” He also told the employees to not worry too much about COVID, which met with some criticism as many people on social media saying otherwise.
“It’s a good thing that many celebrities are sharing their thoughts,” said Zhang Wenhong, a Shanghai-based infectious disease expert with over four million followers on Weibo microblog. “This is a good way to ease the fear in the public.”
Zhang predicted that China must embrace a few spikes of infections, each weaker than the last, before the disease becomes a seasonal infectious disease.
Average internet users are also actively sharing their experiences of getting COVID and spreading tips to recover from the disease. Many people said the throat pain is bad, and antipyretic drugs can ease the fever.
In addition to celebrities and users, many government agencies are also spreading information about COVID, and how to regain health if infected.
Health officials are holding press conferences frequently to explain the current policies, which then get amplified by national media outlets.
“I bought more medicine after seeing your video,” a Bilibili user commented under Zhong’s video nine days after it’s posted. “The medicine helped a lot.”