Zhang Wenhong is caught in a storm of public opinion, the "political commander" behind Shanghai's epidemic prevention policy

The recent epidemic situation in Shanghai, China's largest city, is severe. The government still adheres to the "dynamic clearing" policy regardless of the cost. Zhang Wenhong, the leader of the Shanghai New Coronary Pneumonia Medical Treatment Expert Team, suddenly "disappeared", and there are rumors that his position has been adjusted guess. At the same time, there has been a phenomenon of online violence against him, but there are also people who support him and complain.

On March 28, at the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission’s briefing on the epidemic, many people noticed that Wu Jinglei, director of the Municipal Health Commission, had one more title than before, that is, “Head of the Medical Treatment Team of the Shanghai Leading Group for Epidemic Prevention and Control”. This so-called "medical treatment group" has never been seen before. At the same time, Zhang Wenhong, the well-known "leader of the Shanghai New Coronary Pneumonia Medical Treatment Expert Team", also did not show up. Before that, he also appeared as the leader of the expert team during the official epidemic briefings on March 24 and 25. There has been private speculation about whether it has been replaced due to its disagreement with the official epidemic prevention opinion.

Dr. Yang Jingduan, an expert in integrative medicine in Pennsylvania, USA, who is proficient in traditional Chinese and Western medicine, said in an interview with this station: "What is the reason why Zhang Wenhong is not coming out now, and he has been replaced, we don't know that. But from the outside observation, the one who is coming out now is not known. These people, these methods, obviously the political factor is greater than the epidemic prevention factor."

Zhang Wenhong took the blame for the outbreak in Shanghai?

The Shanghai Municipal Health Commission announced on the 31st that there were 358 new confirmed cases of local new coronary pneumonia and 4,144 asymptomatic infections. In order to curb the rapid spread of the epidemic, the official first launched a "phased prevention and control" with the Huangpu River as the boundary on Monday (28th), and then changed to a more stringent "global static management" on Thursday (31st). . Due to the long-term closure and control, the people cannot be guaranteed in various aspects such as life and medical care. At present, people's grievances are boiling.

Zhang Wenhong has always advocated the concept of coexistence with the virus, and actively promoted precise prevention and control in Shanghai, which is obviously different from the official one. At present, should he bear the blame for the epidemic getting out of control?

In this regard, Dr. Lin Xiaoxu, a virology expert and former director of the laboratory of the Department of Virology of the U.S. Army Research Institute, believes that the prevention and control ideas proposed by Zhang Wenhong are actually a consensus after communication with international experts. "Zhang Wenhong mentioned before that he has such a consensus with experts in Europe and the United States and experts in Hong Kong, but the central side just maintains the original so-called dynamic zero-clearing policy, because many things in China are politically in command."

In the past two years or so, under the leadership of experts such as Zhang Wenhong, Shanghai has basically adopted a "non-one-size-fits-all" dynamic clearing approach to maintain Shanghai's stability and social development. In this regard, Dr. Lin Xiaoxu believes that Zhang Wenhong should be regarded as the hero of Shanghai's epidemic prevention. At present, in the face of the highly contagious Omicron variant BA2, the spread of the epidemic is not surprising. Therefore, it cannot be said that the previous epidemic prevention measures are wrong. The authorities' stern closure of the city is precisely because of choking.

"At present, Shanghai's epidemic prevention measures have taken a wrong path because of the high pressure of the central government. Instead of re-examining, how to do better precision prevention and control in the face of new viruses with stronger transmission power."

On March 23, Zhang Wenhong posted a long article on his personal Weibo, "The new crown is not so scary, but the battle is difficult to fight". He said in the article, "We can't take the mentality of killing the virus if we can't do it. We must not only control the epidemic, but also protect the lives of residents, keep the medical treatment channel unblocked, and at the same time protect the survival of private small and micro enterprises. These will It will become the focus of the next stage of Shanghai's fight against the epidemic."

Before the 20th National Congress, the political risk was high, and Xi Jinping used epidemic prevention to attack the Shanghai Gang?

This year is the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Maintaining stability has become the top priority repeatedly emphasized by the authorities, and Shanghai, with a population of 26 million, is under a complete lockdown to prevent the spread of the epidemic. If the spread of the epidemic cannot be stopped quickly, will it become a focus of infighting among the CCP’s top leaders? Woolen cloth?

In this regard, Dr. Lin Xiaoxu believes: "If Shanghai's epidemic prevention really hits China's economy very hard, different factions in the CCP will use this as an excuse to criticize the wiseness of the zero-clearing policy, and further develop it into a more Fierce intra-party factionalism increases the risk of Xi Jinping's re-election."

At the same time, he also analyzed that Xi Jinping may hope to control society more tightly through the epidemic and crack down on the Shanghai Gang. "He forcibly implemented dynamic clearing in Shanghai, and also took this opportunity to attack the Shanghai Gang, because Shanghai is also the base of another faction that does not listen to the central government to a certain extent."

Zhang Wenhong in the eyes of the storm has both his online violence and his supportive remarks

Zhang Wenhong's possible job change has caused a new wave of public opinion storms on the Chinese Internet. Some people posted articles criticizing Zhang Wenhong for "long-term wrong remarks on the prevention and control of the epidemic." Some people called him a traitor, who brought disaster to the country and the people, or a spokesperson for capital. Some people on behalf of the whole country asked him to kneel and so on.

In addition, Pfizer's new crown oral drugs recently cleared customs quickly and entered Shanghai, Zhejiang and other places, and were included in medical insurance at a high-end price of 2,300 yuan per box. Some people on the Internet also blamed Zhang Wenhong, saying that he "actually acted as a spokesperson for Pfizer in the United States."

In this regard, Dr. Yang Jingduan believes that this is very unfair. "He is a technical cadre of the Shanghai Prevention and Control Center. Any decision in China, especially one involving great economic interests, is definitely not something that Zhang Wenhong can decide."

A few days ago, a netizen who supported Zhang Wenhong posted an article titled "A society that can't even accommodate Zhang Wenhong, is there any hope?" 》

The article said, "There are thousands of new cases every day in Shanghai. Does this mean that the virus had spread widely before the lockdown? Did anyone die at that time? No. Was there a medical run? No. Yes." Others are not diseases', and then created a disaster? No. That means that this virus is really no longer a problem. It is the lockdown that has caused a lot of panic, runs and tragedies. I highly doubt that if we want to Zhang Wenhong's decision may not be the result of today's Shanghai. So why scold Zhang Wenhong? Isn't it risky to scold him..."

The article concluded: "We are not blindly believing in Zhang Wenhong, we are believing in science; we are not supporting Zhang Wenhong, we are supporting ourselves."