The Weirdest Deja Vu

Artist rendering of what a microscopic virus looks like. Image source.

So... As an American living in China, I have a really weird perspective on this whole COVID-19 thing.

At the end of January, all of China went into a panic over it, and everything was closed and we were told to stay home as much as possible. And now, in the middle of March, the United States is doing that exact same thing. It's so weird to see all my friends and family in the US going through all the exact same things that I went through a month and a half ago here in China. 

This advice is all over the internet, so you probably have read it a hundred times before, but I'll say it anyway: Stay home. Cancel your plans. Cancel your travel. Even if you are young and healthy and confident you won't die from it, you need to cancel your plans so you don't end up infecting other people. Do it for your grandma. Do it for my grandma.

The US needs to find out who is infected. There needs to be a lot of testing. I *hope* the number of "new cases" increases scary fast in the next few days, because those aren't really "new cases"- it's discovering the infections that already exist. We need that information. We need to find out how bad this is, how much it has been secretly spreading. For now, everyone isolate yourselves and wait for that data. (When I say "everyone" actually that doesn't include medical staff. They have a much harder job ahead of them. We need to do our part to help by STAYING HOME and NOT SPREADING THE DISEASE and making their job worse.)

China is doing okay. I'm not scared any more, being here. The Chinese government has handled this well, and oh god I hope the United States learns from Asian countries.

I want to say something positive, so I'll say this: It is possible to fight this. But everyone has to work together. Wash your hands, limit your face-to-face interaction with other people, give all your employees paid sick leave, make the testing FREE for EVERYONE. 

Basically, do what China did.

Love you all ~ hope you are all okay.

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All my posts about COVID-19:
I'm in Shanghai, and I'm concerned about the coronavirus (January 23)
An update on the situation in Shanghai (January 28)
About Compassion and Reading the News (January 29)
Welcome Baby Square Root! (February 3)
Remember the old days when we used to go outside? (February 4)
So we're (sort of) back to work here in Shanghai (February 12)
Blogaround (February 13)
Blogaround (February 20)
Shanghai is a good place for immigrants. (And I have feelings about it.) (February 24)
Blogaround (February 27)
Well *now* I'm glad I stayed in China (March 8)
The Weirdest Deja Vu (March 15)
Blogaround (March 19)
I'm an American in China. I CANNOT BELIEVE Some of You Are Still Going Out. (March 22)
Blogaround (March 25)
China Bans Foreigners (Like Me) From Entering the Country (March 29)
List of People Who Are Not Allowed to Call Themselves "Pro-Life" (April 2)
Blogaround (April 3)
... all right now I have way too many posts to keep updating this list. You can find them all on the COVID-19 tag.