Beijing Resurgence

Well, if the first wave didn’t unseat him, maybe the second one will! Who? Trump of course!

Alright, say what you will about current events but we are seeing another resurgence of THE VIRUS, that is, the Coronavirus also known as COVID-19.

Over ten million people infected, half a million dead, but the fear remains and the distrust of everybody continues. Wear a mask, agree or disagree, experts say this, experts say that, the story changes every day, except for the fact that it is still heavily on the public mind.

I guess it never really went away in other places but here in China things were just starting to get back to normal when they found some thing was infected with the virus at the Xinfadi wholesale market in the southwest of Beijing. I writer “some thing” because the story seems to change, maybe it was a fish, a knife, a person, who knows. But whatever it was, how did it get there? And why were they testing there in the first place? Routine inspection? Not sure.

Anyway, after that little incident we saw these posters go up around the compound:

As a result of that detection, fish were removed from many stores:

And if that wasn’t enough, a week later a delivery guy was found to have contracted the virus somehow. This, of course, happened some time during his deliveries and he’d visited some 50 or so locations in one part of the city. That being the case, there doesn’t seem to be a restriction on the delivery personnel. I’m not sure if people are still ordering take out as much, but I still see the guys running around through the buildings and compounds.

Of course, that didn’t go unchecked, however. On Thursday night, 10 pm, during a thunderstorm, this is what I here:

All of which was about free nucleic acid tests being offered to the communities around my area. There was a sign up sheet and a bus outside the compound that would take us to the testing site which wasn’t too far away.

My issue with this free testing, however, was that if I tested positive (at best, I could be asymptomatic because I haven’t been ill in a very long time), then what would happen? Would we be put into the hospital on our own dime? That may have been possible three months ago but now, going on seven months of no work, paying out of pocket isn’t a very attractive idea.

“Think of the people, Steve!”

I do. I wash my hands and don’t routinely sneeze or cough on others. I also work out and eat healthy so I can boost my own immune system while minimizing the chance of contracting the disease. I also wear a mask when near other people or in areas where a lot of people are.

One other thing I have stopped doing, however, is touching the “close door” button on elevators. It is my suspicion that the number one cause of transmission is this little button here:

Why?

Because only a few people will touch the number for their floor but just about EVERYBODY touches the “close door” button because, Lord forbid, you have to wait the three seconds for the doors to close automatically. I am aware that if you do wait that three seconds you’ll likely have to then hold the door for the next seven people who suddenly show up, and then you’ll have a larger issue of more people in an enclosed space. It’s like a lose-lose situation.

Anyway, the push continues to advise people to wear masks and keep their distance. Wash their hands, temperature checks at every entrance and now stores are doubling down on inquiring where people have been for the last two weeks. They do this by utilizing the health kit APP available through WeChat, one of the social media platforms here in China.

So, in a sense, things haven’t really changed all that much. I mean, they have, truly, things are not like they were a year ago and what they’ll be like in a year from now is anyone’s guess.

One thing I can say is that this is getting tiring. Since the workload has been pushed off yet again people have started to quit and move on to other ventures. I’ve been considering the same, you’ll recall I wrote about some of the ideas I had other than staying in China, but I do wonder who is hiring these days? I can say that the people who left did not return to North America but went to Europe instead.

Let’s hope some sort of solution comes about in the next few month or so or else I might be faced with the very real possibility of having to leave China not just because of lack of money or job opportunities, but because the “operational needs” of the company might also change which would mean that my visa wouldn’t get renewed. These are the risks of living abroad, I suppose.

Anyway, to end on a happier note, we’re heading into July and so summer is in full effect for the Northern Hemisphere. I see people are able to get out and about a little bit with their families and that’s good to see. Stay clean, wash your hands, and hopefully we’ll all have a good couple of summer months!