Indeed, the [party] may be highly adept at repressing dissent, but repression is not eradication. Even a momentary lapse can unleash bottled-up anti-regime sentiment. One wonders what might happen to the CPC’s hold on power if Chinese were able to speak freely for a few months, not just a couple of weeks.

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The most consequential political upshot of the Covid-19 outbreak may well be the erosion of support for the CPC among China’s urban middle class. Not only have their lives been severely disrupted by the epidemic and the response to it; they have been made acutely aware of just how helpless they are under a regime that prizes secrecy and its own power over public health and welfare.

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In the post-Mao era, the Chinese people and the CPC have adhered to an implicit social contract: the people tolerate the party’s political monopoly, as long as the party delivers sufficient economic progress and adequate governance.