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According to a company spokesman, Apple has reopened all of its mainland China stores. It took less than one month for the coronavirus to subside and for Apple to get back to full operations.
On February 12 there were, according to the Johns Hopkins website dashboard, 15,200 new cases of the virus reported. Less than a month later, March 6, there were 103 new cases reported.
In a few months, the coronavirus will be a distant memory, says Gordon Wysong. Writing in the American Thinker, he said, “The coronavirus’s effects will become so small that they will be lost in the noise in the day.”
But the implications and changes in the culture will far outlast the virus. For instance, “the hand-washing and sanitation precautions … will be permanently incorporated into American culture.” And not just in the United States. Every time a customer enters a store and notes a hand sanitizer on the wall, every time a worshiper enters a church and sees one in the sanctuary or the restroom, he and she will be reminded of the danger just past.
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There are other positives that will live long after the virus has disappeared. For instance, who knew that 95 percent of antibiotics in the United States were manufactured in China? Not until the communists running the place threatened — boldly and publicly — to shut off their export did the average American awaken to the fact that the United States has been held hostage to the Chinese.
And not just pharmaceuticals or nutritional supplements, either. As The New American pointed out in January, more and more companies are moving out of China, suggesting that “the flow is likely to turn into a flood.” With the arrival of the coronavirus, that flood is going to take place far sooner. The new mantra will likely be “Good Riddance to China” or perhaps even better: “NOT Made in China.”
As Wysong emphasized, “China’s stealth war against America has been exposed.… The overt threat to cut off shipments of antibiotic medicine and medical supplies … has brought the issue to the people of America. No longer is this a stealth war.” The virus, in other words, has had a far greater impact than Michael Pillsbury’s earth-shaking exposure of that stealth war in his A Hundred Year Marathon despite its No. 1 ranking in three separate categories at Amazon.
The risks of sole sourcing have become apparent, and as a result, supply-chain management will change drastically. Other, more secure and dependable sources will be sought, bringing many of the jobs outsourced to China back to America.
Young people several generations removed from the privations of the Great Depression are getting a lesson in reality. Wrote Wysong, “A shortage of toilet paper is not much of a crisis, but seeing meat counters bare, cleaning products cleaned out, and all athletic contests canceled drives home a serious side to life that most Millennials have not incorporated into themselves.”
With the closing of public schools, parents are seeking more information about homeschooling. With workers asked to work from home, they are likely to find such work much happier and more productive, saving travel time and expense along the way.
Perhaps most importantly, they will learn how the media has overblown the COVID 19/coronavirus. In past pandemics, the Spanish Flu (1918-1920) killed up to 100 million people worldwide. The Asian Flu (1956-1958) killed an estimated four million people globally with the death toll in the United States alone approaching 70,000 souls.
The Hong Kong Flu (1968-1969) killed a million people worldwide, and an estimated 100,000 people in the United States.
At this writing, the Johns Hopkins website dashboard shows just 170,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus around the globe, with 6,500 deaths (and 77,000 recoveries). In the United States, there are fewer than 4,000 confirmed cases and 63 deaths, 40 of them in Washington State.
On Friday, President Trump wisely told the American people to “take it easy. Relax. Have a nice dinner. Relax.”
Coming out the other side of this experience, the culture will have changed for the better. Wrote Wysong: “A full alteration of cultural norms will ensue in the aftermath of the coronavirus. It will be industrial, health, intelligence, educational, military, financial, strategic, and emotional. The upside will never be entirely appreciated, but China’s government and its plans will be a loser in all this, and the balance of the world will benefit immensely. The regrettable loss of life, and a short-term financial cost, unfortunately cannot be avoided, but the benefits of the coronavirus will prevail and endure.”
Photo: AP Images
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, writing primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
Related articles:
More and More Companies Moving Out of China
Congressional Lawmakers Press AG Barr to Investigate China’s Propaganda Mouthpiece, China Daily
