How quiet is “really quiet”?
I no longer hear the cleaning lady use the elevator to go up to the top floor to begin her morning garbage duty. The elevator itself is being used far less (I live right by the thing). And if the fridge isn’t doing its cycle and I just sit in my apartment, the silence is practically defeaning, and not just in the early hours of the morning, we’re talking morning, afternoon, evening, all day.
If there has ever been a pall cast over the city, it is now. As of January 27th, 2020, the government decided to extend the Spring Festival holiday from January 30th to February 2nd. That means people don’t need to be back to work until February 3rd at the earliest.
You’d think that this would be a happy occasion, but the announcement and extension come with the mandate of wearing a mask in public places, temperature checks at public transportation entrances, a reminder to wash your hands every chance you get, and to stay away from people exhibiting symptoms of influenza, such as coughing or sneezing or with a high temperature. The result has been that Beijing has gotten really quiet in the last few days. There are still some people out and about but, as one person put it, “it’s like the zombie apocalypse.”
The malls remain open but no one is really buying anything. I went to the Sanlitun Village Taikooli area to have a look around and there were much fewer people there than normal, even for a Sunday evening. Normally the street crossing is packed with people and cars but on Sunday evening is was rather open. You could’ve spun across the street and only hit one or two people rather than not be able to spin at all.
The only thing that’s really been selling well are face masks and hand sanitizer. The government has mandated that everyone wear masks in public and so the push has been to buy up the “surgical masks” because they are cheaper (about 20 RMB per piece) rather than the 3M PM 2.5 masks that are more expensive (about 35 RMB each). The other thing is to replace the face masks on a regular basis, but that gets me wondering about waste production and whether or not it’s any safer to have the virus be thrown out with the garbage.
Will the masks help?
Minimally. The PM2.5 masks are meant to block out particles the size of 2.5 microns but the coronavirus apparently has a diameter of about 1.2 or something. What the masks can do is prevent you from touching your face, especially after you’ve touched some other surface such as a subway handle, and, moreover, can remind you of why you’re wearing the mask in the first place: to stop the spread of germs. So, in that manner, they are more useful as a reminder than a direct method of preventing infection.
What’s worse is that we’ve had some really bad pollution days, which is odd since the factory workers should be on holiday right now. But that means the AQI has been above 200 for the last few days which may also lead to breathing problems. One of the symptoms of the flu is respiratory problems, notably coughing and wheezing. Well, having the AQI over 200 for days on end will certainly lead to those symptoms in sensitive groups (people with asthma or allergies).
Following the government extension of the holiday, the company I work for announced that it has cancelled work for all of February, at least for us piece-work folk. The office workers will still be able to resume their work on February 3rd but will no doubt be given a questionnaire and closely watched for any flu symptoms. But, even in going back to work, if any of them have travelled outside of Beijing to other parts of China, they are requested to stay at home for 14 days in a self-imposed quarantine. I’m not sure if this means they’re supposed to work from home or if they simply have to restrict the time they spend going to and from work. I’ve posted pictures of Beijing’s subway cars in the morning, they’re kinda full.
So this does make for an interesting month. Since I do piece work here in China no work means no money. We get paid one month behind schedule so February won’t be the issue but the end of March and into April might be getting dicey. Furthermore, it’s only one month that’s been cancelled so far, but that doesn’t mean work will definitely start again at the beginning of March. I do wonder what the newly-hireds are going to do now that they’re first paycheques are a few more months away.
Further, I still have a trip planned to Japan at the end of February. Although I’m still willing to go, I might not have much choice. If China shuts down the borders or if Japan imposes quarantines on travellers from Mainland China, that might put a damper on my scheduled vacation. However, given that I have no work in February, I was debating whether or not to extend my time in Japan by a week. I mean, why not make the best of it?
So what will I do throughout February?
I’ll continue to work on my Chinese and Japanese. I do a little bit of a workout every morning and I think that’s a good routine to keep, including chin ups and kettlebell swings. I’m hoping to get a few more videos posted since the internet speeds have been really good as of late (fewer people using the bandwidth that covers my compound). I’ll drink coffee during the day and try to limit my alcohol consumption in the evening so as to not ruin my next day’s activities.
Other than that, even though it might look like the zombie apocalypse, there are many places running specials on… you guessed it, Corona beer.
