70% of Shanghai's residents infected with COVID? WTF?

Eckkkkkkk!

Jan. 10, 2023

NY Times

Shanghai is being gripped by China’s massive Covid wave, leading to a surge in hospitalizations and crowded funeral homes.

Local health officials said last week that up to 70 percent of the city’s 26 million residents had been infected, and they expressed confidence that its outbreak had peaked.

But many of the city’s hospitals are still overcrowded, particularly with older people. Funeral homes have been inundated with mourners.

Infections soared across China late last year, and the government abruptly lifted its strict, but ultimately futile, Covid restrictions in early December. Shanghai endured one of China’s most grueling lockdowns last spring, with residents confined to their homes for more than two months.

China’s current wave of infections has been fueled by a lack of immunity in the population, most of which was not exposed to the coronavirus for years because of the country’s strict controls. In addition, many older adults never received a full course of vaccines or booster shots.