Dr. Li Wenliang, the ophthalmologist who first raised the alarm about the coronavirus in China, has passed away.  When he tried to warn colleagues about the disease, he was arrested by the authorities for "rumor-mongering."  "We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice — is that understood?"

It is reported that he caught the disease from a patient or patients he was treating and died some days later.  Do you believe this?  Only about 2% of the people who contract this virus die from it.  Like the flu and other coronaviruses, most of the people who die from this virus are very old, very young, or weakened by some other medical problem.  Li Wenliang was 34 years old.  If he had some other underlying health problem, it has not been reported.

His death is suspiciously convenient for certain Chinese authorities.  Had he lived, he would have been available to relate how he was silenced and prevented from raising the alarm during the early stages of the outbreak, when it would have been much easier to control.  In a totalitarian country like China, there will be no public investigation into his death.  If there is any investigation, it will be upper-level officials investigating the actions of lower-level officials, and the results will not be made public.

Unless the current communist regime in China falls, we will probably never know for sure, but I'm betting he died not of coronavirus, but of communism.  If I am right about this, he joins countless millions who have died of this malady in the past, and many more will, no doubt, follow in his path till the Chinese people find their way to a better form of government.

Graphic credit: Flickr.