Staying In Is The New Going Out

China is currently experiencing the largest quarantine in human history and it seems a lot of people have questions around daily life here in China.  Do you have to stay in all day?  How do you get food?  Can you still walk the dogs?  What happens if you get sick?

Originally, our school was due to resume classes on the 10th February after a three week break for Chinese New Year.  Given that the majority of staff members had either left the country or travelled to different parts of China, we were told to 'self quarantine' for 14 days upon our return to Beijing as mandated by the education bureau - the idea being that it can take up to 14 days for symptoms to show. As Nick and Beth had left China a week earlier than expected, flying early Sat morning, my quarantine technically started 3 days ago.  Our classes will still start on the same day, but like many other schools we will be carrying out lessons online.

I'm thankfully still able to walk the dogs, making sure my hands have a lovely coating of hand sanitiser when both leaving and reentering the building.  It's slightly surreal walking around my community, and I keep having moments when I think I've lost my hearing. Occasionally I might see one brave parent and child outside playing badminton with a mask firmly fixed to their face, or the community cleaner who is wondering what to do with himself now there's no-one outside littering.

In my home community they have closed all the entrances to the community except one, which has guards checking people's temperature coming in and out.  Delivery men, taxis and take away delivery drivers can only bring things to the gate, not enter.  If your temperature is too high they will send over a specialist ambulance to cart you away for testing and possible hospital quarantine.  You also have to wear a mask whilst out in public. Whilst many smaller shops have closed, the larger supermarkets have remained open, although many have modified their opening times for extra cleaning and disinfecting. Today I went to the hospital to have my stitches removed from my finger (note to self: no cooking when tired), and popped in to the supermarket to stock up on the way back.  I was happy to see the fresh fruit and veg was still very well stocked.  I bought all the avocados.

Whilst I understand the theory behind the quarantine, with some 200+ cases in Beijing, I have more and more questions, and very few people seem to have answers.  I had my temperature checked at least three times, and it all was ok.  Am I now back on day 1 or not?  Do I need to spend another 14 days inside incase I picked up something other than avocados today?  

As of Feb 3nd:
1,398 unwatched YouTube videos on my 'to watch later' playlist. 
510 unread emails.
7 unread paper books (+ 1 kindle).
6 avocados.3 and a quarter cartons of soy milk.
3 dogs and a hamster.
1 tin of baked beans. 
1/2 box of chocolates.  No shame.