Well *now* I'm glad I stayed in China

Two women wearing masks on the New York City subway. Image source.

About a month ago, when all this COVID-19 stuff started, the international community here in China was asking, "should we leave?" Some people did. Some people went back to their own country, some people went to Thailand or Japan to "wait this out." I heard anecdotes about cancelled flights and empty planes. The US consulate was recommending Americans leave China.

But I stayed. Because I felt safe staying in my own apartment, and didn't want to deal with the huge life disruption that would result from suddenly leaving the country.

And looking at the situation now, it looks like the city of Shanghai is doing okay and has this basically under control, and the US is now at the point where I was when I first blogged about COVID-19 at the end of January: I'm in Shanghai, and I'm concerned about the coronavirus. Now the US is facing the panic and uncertainty.

It's ironic that back then I thought of the US as "safe"- like if I could just take my son and get the hell out of China, then we'd be fine. I guess that's because usually, that's how it feels to travel to the other side of the world. Get on a plane, then 14 hours later you arrive in a whole new world, where things that happen there have no effect on things that happen here.

Now people who've left China but want to come back are in a difficult situation. A lot of places in China are asking anyone who traveled from anywhere to do a voluntary 2-week quarantine at home. And people are talking about the flight from Iran to Beijing, where it was found that 2 of the passengers were infected, so then many of the other passengers from the plane were forced to do a 2-week quarantine. On social media I've seen people talking about "I want to come back to Shanghai, but what if I get stuck in quarantine?"

I haven't traveled outside of Shanghai at all in the past month or 2, so I'm able to breeze through all the questions about travel history that workplaces, hospitals, etc are asking now. That's not the case for people who have traveled recently.

ANYWAY. Now the US is facing this- and again, it feels so weird to me that China has a problem and then the US has the exact same problem- like, when does that ever happen? To my readers in the US, I'll say this: Wash your hands. Don't be racist. Avoid crowds. Get your information from health experts and not panicked social media posts.

Hope you are all okay and this is over soon.

-----------------

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.