It's the morning before the night before Christmas, and this is your DSR Daily Brief, I'm

Grant Haver.

And I'm Chris Cottenor.

Today, when a reflective mood is the year comes to a close, so Chris and I have both brought

a few things that surprised us this year to discuss, so I'll go ahead and kick it off.

One thing that surprised me is the speed and abandon at which China has turned their

back on the Zero COVID policy.

After only a few days of protests, the government has completely retreated without the

public health measures necessary to protect an under-vaccinated population.

Even though the protests were dispersed across the country, I thought that if Xi would

keep the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress from being a pivot point for the policy,

that he would just keep it in perpetuity moving forward.

It's obviously too good an authoritarian control measure to give up for nothing.

But off Mike, Chris and I have talked about how we think that, partially, this is a way

to reopen, while also pointing the finger at protesters for the deaths that this new

relaxed policy will cause.

Right now, I've seen estimates in the millions of deaths in the next few months alone.

The story is far from over and we already know what happens when China sneezes.

The world catches a cold.

So Chris, what do you think about the evolution of this story?

What's pretty surprising is it took about a week's worth of protests to turn the tide

in China.

...