To quarantine or not quarantine
Beijing as usual makes our life a misery with its COVID-19 big confusion.
That applies to the quarantine rule, the opening and operation of restaurants etc.
So, economy back to normal is only for those with their heads in the clouds. Obviously people still are naive thinking there will be no pandemic. Oh well.
On Friday 6 March Premier Li Keqiang still did not entirely impose quarantine for all in Beijing. As China daily wrote on 7 March, “Beijing mandates 14-day quarantine for inbound travelers from overseas coronavirus hotspots”, that would normally not apply to travelers from Belgium, at least not earlier in the past week.
In our compound we received the visit of “health officials” who wanted my wife to sign the papers, see the pics (basically agreeing to quarantine). I gave them the official publication of the Beijing Government stating people like my wife did not need the quarantine. They did not know about this (as usual) and were happy to get my printout.
After a second “visit” there was no imposed quarantine and only mandatory daily temperature check. Anyway my wife will avoid going out by her free will. And we adapted the new way to say goodnight.
Conclusion: I am afraid that anybody arriving from abroad will be mandated the 14-day quarantine, even with the announcement in China Daily (see pic). Any suspicious travel history will sound the alarm!
On another note, all school teachers are advised not to return to Beijing until further notice.
In the meantime Northern Italy imposed a quarantine/lockdown for 16 million people.
People at high risk unable to get assistance or tests in USA. Total breakdown of the system. Once they start real testing I expect the number of infections to go up dramatically. Reason why genius Trump is not enthusiastic to do so. See also further the Belgian article.
One Diner Per Table Suggestion Causes Confusion, Concern
Michael Wester in theBeijinger 7 March 2020
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/RI0A_hC4OKVr69FkIcYdIg
Read the full article there.
A statement that small restaurants should limit diners to one per table made at Thursday’s city government press briefing on the coronavirus crisis has caused concern and confusion among Beijing’s restaurant owners and foodies.
A closer look reveals that this is not necessarily a new mandate, but some areas of town have already interpreted it as such.
The Beijing Youth Daily’s (app.bjtitle.com) headline on the story states the one per table rule
Regardless of what was said, some restaurants and property management companies, particularly those in malls, are taking the announcement as gospel and already enforcing a one person per table restriction.
“In order to further our work in epidemic prevention, I think we ought to do the following,” An official began, then listed 10 items:
- Restaurants must make clear lines of responsibility for epidemic prevention.
- Customers must be subject to temperature checks before entering.
- During the epidemic, dining in is not recommended; where dining in is absolutely necessary, eat in turns or separated from one another. To reduce customers from loitering too long, encourage take out and dining alone.
- Before dining, make sure you wear your mask; if you are planning to dine in a restaurant, be sure you are healthy and are not showing any symptoms of COVID-19. Wear your mask at all times except when eating.
- Make sure you wash your hands before dining.
- Use staggered methods of serving to prevent overcrowding.
- At ordering and paying stations, establish one-meter line markers to prevent customers from crowding these areas.
- Increasing distance between tables and having only one customer per table will be effective in limiting group dining.
- When dining, reduce socializing and concentrate on eating.
- Restaurants should heat sterilize all tableware using steam heat, boiling water or chemical sterilizers.
Some of these, such as the distance between tables and one-meter lines, have already been announced and enforced.
Diners visiting Beijing restaurants over the last two days report being told differing limits, from one to four per table, while others say no limit has been set.
A party of three were asked to dine at separate tables with one empty table in between; Thursday at Karaiya Spice House in the Kerry Centre (with my friend Glen in the picture…)
Like most of what has been happening across town as this crisis has unfolded, both interpretation and enforcement of policies that have been announced at a rapid-fire pace have been largely left to local-area police, building management and community associations.
Many restaurants are taking it upon themselves to enforce limits, even without prompting, simply to play it safe.
Any tightening of restrictions on dining is likely to further damage an industry that is already reeling from a massive decline in business as a result of the virus.
The end is far away
SCMP 8 March 2020
The Covid-19 epidemic caused by the coronavirus will not end this year as the contagion has spread worldwide, a leading microbiologist from Hong Kong has said.
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong, who advised authorities on control measures against the disease, said although the situation in mainland China and Hong Kong might improve in summer, there could be more imported cases from the southern hemisphere in winter.
“We think the epidemic will probably not come to an end,” Yuen said on a pre-recorded television interview aired on Sunday. “There will be what we call reversed imported cases. In the beginning other countries feared us, now we fear them for bringing in the virus.”
Yuen urged residents to avoid travelling at least until the end of the year.
Facing such a virus, immediate action is the key
How the coverup and delays in Wuhan created a worldwide pandemic. Indeed quick reaction is vital to halt the spread. Precious time was wasted allowing the Pandora box to open. Now Western countries face the same dilemma: they are also too slow to act. This news is actually … not new. See:
“China censors report about how authorities hid coronavirus genome sequence test results for 14 days”
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/03/07/china-censors-report-authorities-hid-coronavirus-
Actually Wuhan waited longer than 2 weeks to admit reality and take drastic action. It was too late with millions of people having moved out.
A stern warning in Belgium
Interesting article, in French. Worth a read.
All over the news…
“Coronavirus : ‘Face à sa propagation exponentielle, des mesures extrêmes s’imposent'”
In short:
– the pandemic is here with the exponential spread of the virus;
– Belgium is not prepared and has no real plan;
– we must avoid any contact with others as much as possible and use masks;
– Belgium can expect 50,000 cases in 33 days and 200,000 a week later unless drastic action is taken.
– in a case like this virus immediate response is a must
– the country should have stockpile of masks and other to face any such epidemic (strategic reserve of 400,000 masks)
– the data provided by the WHO are unreliable.
Very interesting but alarmist read. I can agree with most except for the emphasis on masks as I have said many times. He does not mention enough washing hands and not touching surfaces.
With such a scenario in mind, I am afraid the USA is going to face a crisis…
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times 🙂