Because China is by law a single party state, people wrongly assume they don’t need to worry about public opinion. In fact the Communist Party is obsessed with public opinion. They know being popular is political security.
The Party wants to be seen protecting people from epidemics. This is age-old Chinese politics 101.
When Shanghai had an outbreak of hepatitis, trains covered doorknobs with cloth covers.
They were eager to compensate for early lies about SARS, and were extremely proactive at …