China’s healthcare system is under massive pressure with an influx of patients after nationwide protests demanding the resignation of Xi Jinping forced the government to ease COVID restrictions. COVID is spreading rapidly and hospitals are so overwhelmed that they are telling staff to come in and work even if they themselves have COVID. Many expected the easing of China’s COVID policies to be more gradual, but Yale Professor Chen Xi, who specializes in health care policy, said the government “heard the voice of the protesters” and that the sudden shift of policy was “not ideal but they had to do it.”
