Surveillance State Vs. The Virus

Paranoia sets in as China’s government ramps up blanket tracking not designed for an outbreak

- Rebecca Penty

For decades, China has been building and refining the ability to track its citizens’ whereabouts and interactions to control dissent and protest. The state’s efforts to contain the rapid spread of the new coronavirus are now testing the limits of that surveillance system.

To slow down any virus, it’s important to interrupt person-to-person transmission. Officials in China have used a mix of high- and low-tech to find and monitor people who may have been exposed to the virus, which had infected more than 78,000 and killed upwards of 2,700 in the country as of Feb. 25. Authorities have sourced data from phone carriers and called on private tech companies to set up virtual health hotlines to trace everyone who’s been in or near Hubei province, home to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. They’ve also activated an extensive network of Communist Party members and community groups, encouraging citizens to monitor neighbors’ vital signs and whereabouts.

A 25-year-old who studies in Wuhan told Bloomberg News he was surprised when officials found him about 300 miles north in his hometown of Henan. The postgraduate student, who asked not to be named because he feared police retaliation, left Wuhan in early January. Two weeks later a Henan police officer called, saying he suspected the student had visited the seafood market where the virus was thought to have originated and asked if the student was feeling all right. Soon, the student was overwhelmed by calls and visits from health officials, police officers, and other authorities; doctors came to take his temperature daily for two weeks. He hadn’t contracted the virus. Overwhelmed, the student turned off his phone.