"Citizens reporting on the epidemic have been made to disappear" would be a more factual description. And as can be seen from the first article linked above, "disappearance" doesn't necessarily lead to a fatal end.
But again, I think you were right to call me out on speculating. We just don't know, and if there's one thing we don't need more of right now, it's speculation from non-experts like me. Thank you.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Qiushi#February_2020_disa...
"Citizens reporting on the epidemic have been made to disappear" would be a more factual description. And as can be seen from the first article linked above, "disappearance" doesn't necessarily lead to a fatal end.
There is some not-direct-but-still-relevant support for being inclined to think that death is not entirely out of the question for those reporters, e. g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Go...
But again, I think you were right to call me out on speculating. We just don't know, and if there's one thing we don't need more of right now, it's speculation from non-experts like me. Thank you.