China’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Surveillance and Autonomy

Abstract

Pandemics bring the specter of death, disruption, and despair, but historically they have also been engines for social transformations visible at almost every level of society For scholars interested in understanding contemporary surveillance dynamics, the COVID-19 pandemic encourages thinking about how different forms of monitoring have altered aspects of the global infectious disease response and what these developments might suggest about the evolving practices of surveillance and governance more generally Here, Cassiano et al focus on China, where the virus is assumed to have originated and where--given China's population profile--rapidly spreading infections pose stark morbidity and mortality risks