Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ozzythecat 1319 days ago
I don’t recall a similar announcement even at the height of COVID.

Do we know what’s now changed?

6 comments

Three possible reasons:

1. Workers only get food if they show up for their shift. If they are sick and don't work, there is no place to get food in the Foxconn campus. Due to the lockdown, the workers can't order food delivered online if sick.

2. When local governments force people to quarantine, they are supposed to provide basic meals. However, it seems most workers who were quarantined recently did not receive any food or water for days because the local government expected Foxconn to provide it instead.

3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY

Well any one of those three sound absolutely horrendous.
> 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease.

This is now just routine, very easy way to get views (courtesy government of some country that chose to hush the beginnings of a pandemic).

One of Foxconn's biggest factories has been locked down because of COVID. They're one of the biggest suppliers of iPhone final assembly labour.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-...

The last few months are the height of COVID in China.
This winter might be especially bad for covid in China. It's 1-2 years behind the rest of the world.
The policy in China is 1-2 years behind. Everyone else has realized that with Omicron a zero Covid policy is no longer feasible (and, where vaccination rates are high, not needed either), but that hasn't yet gotten through to Xi (or it has, but he thinks reversing the policy will somehow cause him to "lose face").
Not just policy, but immunity. Barring mass covid parties, it'll take China 1-2 years to get immunity on par with the rest of the world.
Expectations, I'd bet. During peak covid, everything was a bit like this - but now the perception is closer to "business as usual, with economic headwinds".
"Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain."

From different news outlets and youtube channels that cover china's zero covid policy I feel the statement above referring to the health and safety of the Foxconn workers is pure PR puff.

I really like this youtube channel call China Insights witch gives some decent information on this exact Foxconn issues and how the workers are fleeing the lock-down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc

It is now the height of Covid in China because they refused effective western vaccine help (because apparently that hurts Xi’s feelings).