The Wall Street Journal - 03.04.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, April 3, 2020 |A

OPINION

Delhi Isn’t Buying Beijing’s Coronavirus Hero Act

It’s not often that
iconic Bollywood ac-
tor Amitabh Bach-
chan tweets about a
contentious geopo-
litical issue to his
nearly 41 million
followers. Last week
he shared a meme
doing the rounds in
India—an illustra-
tion that showed
World Health Organization chief
Tedros Ghebreyesus blindfolded
with a Chinese flag.
The picture, which Mr. Bachchan
later deleted, alludes to widespread
allegations that the WHO, wary of
upsetting Beijing, was slow to sound
the alarm about the coronavirus
that originated late last year in Wu-
han. The actor’s tweet also high-
lights something else: China’s ef-
forts to use the coronavirus crisis to
boost its image are falling flat in In-
dia. In the midst of an unprece-
dented 21-day national lockdown an-
nounced by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, Indians are in no
mood to forgive their neighbor,
which many people see as the
source of their troubles.
“The Chinese are very good at
manufacturing,” says Samir Saran,
Delhi-based president of the Observer

Research Foundation, in a phone in-

terview. “They’re not very good at

manufacturing consent.”

Friction between India and China

isn’t new. Three years ago, their

troops engaged in a tense 10-week

standoff in the Himalayas after

China attempted to build a road on

territory also claimed by Bhutan.

But since authorities reported In-

dia’s first case of coronavirus on

Jan. 30—a student who returned

from Wuhan to the southern Indian

state of Kerala—anti-Chinese senti-

ment in India has spiked. So far In-

dia has only 2,032 coronavirus in-

fections and 58 deaths, but many

experts expect those numbers to

soar in the coming weeks.

Television news anchors, political

cartoonists and policy wonks have

all pointed out Beijing’s role in

sparking the global health crisis.

“Can we forgive China?” asked the

headline of an essay by prominent

strategic affairs expert Brahma Chel-

laney. (Short answer: No.) Vijay

Gokhale, who earlier this year retired

as foreign secretary, argued in an op-

ed that the coronavirus “has dispelled

the myths around the Beijing consen-

sus. Try as the Chinese authorities

might to showcase their system as

having efficiently tackled a national

emergency, even the remotest nation

on earth has learned about their fail-

ure.”

On WhatsApp and social media,

many Indians are even blunter.

Twitter has sprouted hashtags like

#ChinaLiedAndPeopleDied, #Make-

ChinaPay and #BoycottChina. You

don’t have to search hard to find In-

dians who refer to the coronavirus

as the Chinese virus. A widespread

meme borrowed from the Danish

newspaper Jyllands-Posten shows

the five stars on the Chinese flag re-

placed by the spherical virus. A pop-

ular joke on WhatsApp: “China cre-

ated group ‘Covid-19.’ China added

you. China added rest of the world.

China left.” Many of the more than

690,000 people who as of publica-

tion Thursday had signed a

Change.org petition calling on Mr.

Tedros to resign as head of WHO

have Indian names.

In some places, Indian anger to-

ward China has shaded into crude

cultural stereotypes. In a WhatsApp

video in Hindi, a bearded young man

says, “We can’t even wish the Chi-

nese ill by saying, ‘Let your mouth

be infested with bugs.’ For them

that’s dinner.” According to media

reports, some Indians in big cities

have attacked or insulted fellow citi-

zens from the northeastern part of

India for their allegedly Chinese fea-

tures.

China’s baldfaced attempt to

score propaganda points from the

crisis has not helped. By highlight-

ing its own apparently successful ef-

fort to slow the virus’s spread, and

showcasing medical assistance to

badly hit countries like Italy and

Spain, Beijing comes across as the

geopolitical equivalent of the arson-

ist who lives in a neighborhood with

a well-run fire station.

China’s state-owned media has

mocked India’s chaotic attempt to

enforce a national lockdown. “#India

police were seen busy waving rattan

to alert those who slinkingly come

outside during the prevailing lock-

down,” tweeted the English-lan-

guage Global Times from its official

account along with an accompany-

ing video. “Under similar circum-

stances, #China using drones to help

spread awareness is seen as a better

way.” A Global Times illustration

meant to convey bilateral coopera-

tion in the fight against the virus

shows a flag-draped Chinese arm

reaching down to clasp an Indian

one.

What do Indian anger and Chi-

nese condescension mean for bilat-

eral relations? Mr. Saran believes

that, notwithstanding popular rage,

New Delhi will continue to maintain

a relationship with Beijing marked

by both competition and coopera-

tion. Unlike the Trump administra-

tion, the Indian government is un-

likely to call China out bluntly for

its calamitous handling of the early

stages of the outbreak. “Prime Min-

ister Modi is not going to call it the

Chinese virus no matter what the

street demands,” says Mr. Saran.

Tanvi Madan, an expert on India-

China relations at the Brookings In-

stitution, says many of the sharpest

Indian attacks on Beijing have come

from experts who are widely seen as

China skeptics. “This has reinforced

existing beliefs,” she says.

Ultimately, though, the impact of

their criticism will depend largely

on how India handles the coronavi-

rus crisis at home. “If two weeks

from now the government can’t slow

the virus’s growth, Indians won’t be

focused on China’s mistakes,” says

Ms. Madan.

Anti-Chinese sentiment

is sweeping the country

amid fears that Covid-

will soon do the same.

EAST IS
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From Iraq to New York: Thank Those Who Keep on Truckin’

I

’m in the trucking business, and
the coronavirus pandemic has
me thinking back to my days in
Iraq as a tank platoon commander.
In 2008 I was stationed with Bravo
Company 2-6 Infantry at an air base
once controlled by Saddam Hussein
that we repurposed as an outpost
for about 120 soldiers. Well-func-
tioning supply chains helped keep us
safe and the local economy hum-
ming. The same is true here at
home.
One goal of Operation Iraqi Free-
dom was to preserve freedom of
movement and trade, essential for
rebuilding the Iraqi economy. That
meant routine clearance of roads
and pathways. The U.S. and Iraqi
forces worked together on coordi-
nated security patrols, day and
night. The point was to make sure
locals could move freely and supply
chains could keep delivering goods
to the public.
Part of our mission was ensuring
that the 77,000 people in the district
of Al-Suwaira could trade along the

two routes in our area—one to Bagh-

dad to the north, another to

Mahmudiya to the west. But our out-

post relied on supply runs from Bagh-

dad, 46 miles away, for food, fuel,

water and ammunition. An enemy

disruption of the route to Baghdad

would have substantially weakened

our ability to defend ourselves.

Being a trucker in Iraq during the

war was a dangerous vocation. KBR,

formerly a division of Halliburton,

had a program to supplement the lo-

cal workforce with Americans will-

ing to take on the risk of supplying

the besieged nation with basic

goods. We relied on these truckers

in more ways than one.

First, when a truck arrived, locals

gained supplies to feed their live-

stock, water their crops, and put

food on the table for their families.

The resupply runs also provided re-

inforcements for our company, from

provisions to ammunition.

But less appreciated is the confi-

dence this instilled in soldiers and

the community. Perception can

quickly become reality. Fear that

shipments wouldn’t arrive could

have quickly eroded morale or

spooked a fragile economy.

If the enemy had learned that we

had been cut off from supplies or

that the supply chain had been dis-

rupted, we could have been in a life-

or-death situation. That isn’t an ex-

aggeration. As for the economy, a

damaged supply artery could have

produced hyperinflation and a run

on remaining supplies. This experi-

ence formed how I view trucking

and running a supply chain.

As the novel coronavirus has in-

vaded America, the country has had

to make special arrangements to en-

sure that goods can move, much like

in a war zone. Hours-of-service reg-

ulations, which limit drivers to 11

hours behind the wheel every 24,

have been relaxed. The Coronavirus

Aid, Relief and Economic Security

Act will provide assistance to small

and midsize motor carriers, which

make up more than 90% of all

trucking companies. This cash infu-

sion will help carriers meet payroll,

which means they’ll be able to keep

moving goods. The government’s fi-

nancial commitment to the supply

chain is similar to the one U.S.

forces made during Operation Iraqi

Freedom.

No one knows how long this will

last, but freight will continue to

move. I have been thinking about

the drivers on the road across Amer-

ica who are giving up so much to

support the nation. These truckers

and workers are away from family

for long periods. They work grueling

hours and risk exposure to Covid-19.

But they’re willing to put their

health at risk so that millions of

people can have a semblance of nor-

malcy in their lives.

Thanks to these sacrifices, gro-

cery and pharmacy shelves will be

stocked even amid a pandemic. That

consistency and reliability will give

confidence to American consumers

as the economy starts to rebound.

As I learned in Iraq, the supply

chain and the truckers who hold it

together are vital to the health of a

nation. I salute America’s truck

drivers and thank them for their

service.

Mr. Williams is director of opera-

tions at Transfix, a digital market-

place that connects freight shippers

and carriers. He served as a tank

platoon leader and battalion battle

captain in the U.S. Army.

By James Williams

I learned in the Army why

supply chains are so vital.

There are lessons for the

current crisis.

F

or now, social distancing is
the best America can do to
contain the Covid-19 pan-
demic. But if the U.S. truly
mobilizes, it can soon de-
ploy better weapons—advanced
tests—that will allow the country to
shift gradually to a protocol less dis-
ruptive and more effective than a
lockdown.
Instead of ricocheting between an
unsustainable shutdown and a danger-
ous, uncertain return to normalcy, the
U.S. could mount a sustainable strat-

egy with better tests and maintain a
stable course for as long as it takes to
develop a vaccine or cure. The country
will once more be able to plan for the
future, get back to work safely and
avoid an economic depression. This
will require massive investment to
ramp up production and coordinate
the construction of test centers. But
the alternatives are even more costly.
Two types of testing will be essen-
tial. The first test, which relies on a

Testing Is Our Way Out

technology known as the polymerase

chain reaction, or PCR, can detect

the virus even before a person has

symptoms. It is the best way to iden-

tify who is infected. The second test

looks not for the virus but for the an-

tibodies that the immune system

produces to fight it. This test isn’t so

effective during the early stages of

an infection, but since antibodies re-

main even after the virus is gone, it

reveals who has been infected in the

past.

Together, these two tests will give

policy makers the data to make

smarter decisions about who needs

to be isolated and where resources

need to be deployed. Instead of firing

blindly, this data will let the country

target its efforts.

Here’s a simple illustration of how

test data can save lives. Every day

millions of health-care professionals

go to work without knowing whether

they are infectious and might spread

the virus to their colleagues. We both

have close relatives on the front

lines. As soon as one of them devel-

oped a cough, she pulled herself out

of service. But at that point she may

have been infectious for several criti-

cal days. If she and her colleagues

had all been tested every day, her in-

fection would have been caught ear-

lier and she would have isolated her-

self sooner.

To be used as a screening mecha-

nism at the beginning of a shift, the

test would need to be able to give a

result within minutes. Developers

are making progress on speeding up

these PCR tests—so much so that

the aforementioned physician re-

ceived the results from her second

test, conducted five days after the

first, before those from the first

test. Abbott and Roche, two phar-

maceutical companies, are moving

forward with tests that can de-

crease reporting times from days or

hours to minutes. Now that the doc-

tor has recovered, an antibody test

could help determine when she can

return to the frontlines of patient

care.

As testing capacity expands, the

same tests could be offered to all

essential workers, such as police of-

ficers and emergency technicians,

and then to other overlooked but

critical workers—pharmacists, gro-

cery clerks, sanitation staff. The

next step would be to test people

throughout the country at random

to get up-to-date information about

who is infected now and who has

ever been infected.

For those who are currently in-

fected, governments can provide im-

mediate assistance to make sure they

don’t infect anyone else, especially

family members. Those infected be-

fore who now have antibodies may

be less susceptible to reinfection. If

that is proved in the weeks to come,

they could also return to work.

Putting this system in place will

take resources, creativity and hard

work. Test developers will have to in-

crease the production rate of kits by

an order of magnitude. In his work

fighting Ebola in West Africa, Dr.

Shah saw how a virus can cause a

30% reduction in economic output.

Mr. Romer’s back-of-the-envelope cal-

culation is that the recession caused

by the coronavirus pandemic has al-

ready caused a 20% reduction in U.S.

output, which means the country is

losing about $350 billion in produc-

tion each month. If a $100 billion in-

vestment in a crash program to make

antibody and PCR tests ubiquitous

brought a recovery one month sooner,

it would more than pay for itself.

Building this testing system would

be complicated and require the best

of American science, business and

philanthropy working together. But it

is the type of challenge that the U.S.

has overcome before. It isn’t viable

to wait a year or two for a vaccine

before getting people back to work

safely. To save lives and prevent a

depression, testing on a massive

scale is essential.

Mr. Romer is a professor at New

York University and a 2018 Nobel

laureate in Economics. Dr. Shah is

president of the Rockefeller Founda-

tion and served as administrator of

the U.S. Agency for International De-

velopment, 2010-15.

By Paul Romer
And Rajiv Shah

DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
Returning to normal is too

dangerous. Lockdowns are

unsustainable. Let’s save

lives without a depression.

A health-care worker administers a coronavirus test Thursday.

Give Hospital Workers Hazard Pay

D

octors, nurses and other

medical workers have been

justly praised for their hero-

ism and courage. We owe them our

lives, we are told. What are we do-

ing for them?

A reporter asked President

Trump the other day about “hazard

pay” for frontline health workers.

“I like it,” he said. “They’re like

warriors.” He’s right. Some of them

are working in emergency rooms

and intensive-care units without

adequate protection, and they de-

serve extra pay. We suggest $1,

a week for these doctors, nurses,

phlebotomists, paramedics and

other support staff.

No quibbling over whether the

doctor or the person who hauls the

gurneys should get more or less.

What they have in common is a job

that demands constant exposure to

danger. The chief medical officer at

a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital singled

out respiratory therapists: “They’re

putting people on ventilators...

where they might get some aero-

solized particles. They are uniquely

skilled employees, and they’re

dropping like flies.” And skilled

staffers aren’t easy to replace.

The prospect of sickening others

is a heavy burden, too. Physicians

and their colleagues leave work

each day dreading that they’ll ex-

pose their children, partners or

parents. That can mean extra ex-

pense: An ER doctor in Washington

who lives with his family put an ad

in the paper seeking a temporary

apartment—a major expense for

him and an unimaginable one for

workers lower down the pay scale.

Some hospitals are already mak-

ing such payments. New York-Pres-

byterian announced Wednesday that

all clinical employees, including sup-

port staff, will receive a $1,250 bo-

nus. But this is a national problem.

Congress should authorize the U.S.

Treasury to pay a fixed bonus to all

ER and ICU workers who work 30

hours a week or more, at least until

the risk of infection from inade-

quate protective supplies is under

control.

Health-care professionals de-

serve a reward for their heroic

work, and a little less stress in

their lives would help them deliver

better care to everyone.

Dr. Satel, a psychiatrist, is a res-

ident scholar at the American En-

terprise Institute.

By Sally Satel

Extra money would be a

tangible show of gratitude

and would enable them to

care better for everyone.