COVID-19 China

03. FEBRUARY. 2020… YIBIN… SICHUAN… CHINA

I am now 63 years young and I sit here in quarantine due to China’s outbreak of Coronavirus. With over 360 dead in China, 1 in The Philippines, and 21,000 infected worldwide it is an epidemic, yet with no cure and no idea of how long China will be virtually closed to the outside world… There are, I believe, over 260 cured at present, but there is always a question mark on these figures one way or the other… Either way China is scared…

Just prior to coming to China from Australia I was forced into retirement by the company I had spent 15 years working for, after applying for 3-month long service leave, then coming out of a quadruple heart bypass operation, it seemed they saw me as a liability rather than an asset, so began badgering me out… Just the tip of the iceberg… My Doctor diagnosed me with depression, my Psychologist diagnosed me with delayed grief, from my first wife’s murder 5 years ago. Either one meant my head was not working right at that time. My psychologist said I should write, so here it is…

But then we hit Coronavirus (later known as COVID-19). Thankfully, I discovered that my depression was more work and heart operation related than anything else and not delayed grief. I went off medication within a month and my mental state improved despite what we went through during the Epidemic.

On lock down. Only one person can leave the apartment with the security pass supplied. No restaurants open, very few shops for emergency supplies, the streets are deserted.

20. March. 2020… YIBIN … SICHUAN … CHINA

Corona Virus is now a worldwide pandemic with people infected and dying in most countries. China appears to have it under control with the only new infections being those that have returned to China from overseas. Wuhan, the center of the epidemic kicked its butt, with all temporary hospitals being closed and life slowly returning to normal. Australia has closed all flights and not accepting anyone that is not a citizen or resident. They have advised all Australian’s to return home.

While Australia, so far is considered low at 756 reported cases, it has death rate at 7 (seven) with 46 recovered. But the country is in panic, from what I see on news and multimedia… Chinese people in the country are ridiculed, one of our friends was refused an Uber ride because she was Chinese, others have been accosted in the street, called names and told to go home… Christ, for most Australia is home and they hadn’t been out of the country in years… Australia is in shutdown… I can return home if I can get a direct flight out of China to Perth, but the question arises… Why would I?

China has all but eradicated this virus, we are still in basic isolation, but this will no doubt open by the end of the month and life return to normal. We can enjoy the holiday we came here for as China has allowed me to extend my Visa by 2 months due to the Virus… Why would we return to a country just starting out with the Virus and, by all appearances, struggling with its internal conflicts… Here I am not persecuted because I am a Westerner, but in Australia, my wife would be, because she is Chinese… If we return to Australia now, we will need to be in a 2-week self-imposed quarantine… So again, I ask why would I return to Australia?

11. July. 2020… YIBIN … SICHUAN … CHINA

I am still here, Visa extended until the 05 August, but have just had the flight for that date cancel. 3 lots of cancelled flights, 3 extensions to my Visa and no sign of a return to Perth in the near distant future. There are once a week flights out of Guangzhou with seats limited to 50 people and bloody expensive, as we would have to go via Sydney, with a 2-week hotel isolation paid by us before applying for an exemption to return to Perth in Western Australia, then a flight and another 2-week hotel isolation paid by us… This would bring our return to Perth bill bordering on $20,000.00 Australian dollars. Why would I if China is willing to continue extending my Visa?

I went through a period there when the Western world first contracted the Virus and there were mega shutdowns of everything where some people here in China walked past me covering their nose and mouth. When I went somewhere, Police or security were called on other occasions and they came to ask me where I was from and how long I had been in China … Easily fixed once they saw my passport, they apologized profusely and went on their way.

Now, I am back to celebrity status as one of the very few Western People in Yibin… I stand out like dogs, you know what’s. Kids approach me in the street wanting photos and saying ‘Hello’, adults trying their English skills on me and restaurants supplying free beer when I go there.

Why would I want to leave China?

I have furniture in storage, I don’t have a job, I am trying to get my superannuation (a small problem through China with its website restrictions, (but getting there) and I’m running out of the Holiday money I was paid out when I left my last job, and we need to buy a house back in Perth… That is why I want to return to Perth.

Looking now at a possibility of staying until maybe November if these flights keep cancelling. Airlines have screwed everyone, they allow you to book flights that they have no intention of continuing with, they just hope that borders open so it can fly, and then you cannot get a refund, they are holding onto this money in credit for future flights. Not much help if you find an alternative carrier and must pay again… So far, one booking agent has gone bankrupt and I will never see that money again… So, went direct to an airline that went Via Jakarta, Indonesia when they opened their borders. Then they closed their borders and the airline rebooked me, but still borders were closed, so no hope. So, had to cancel the tickets, but no refund. Only credit, which is no big deal as I can use them down the track, hopefully next year.

Maybe one day I will leave China?

23 NOVEMBER 2020 … PERTH … WESTERN AUSTRALIA

In 2-week isolation hotel. People even bitch about that, but with the occasional guest being found positive to COVID-19, we are happy to accept this requirement. We obtained a test before we left China (not a requirement, but made moving easier), a test the day after we arrived in Australia and the day before we left isolation. Happy to do so.

A friend asked me once we returned “How did China eradicate COVID-19 so fast?”

I think it is a cultural thing. Many Chinese are used to wearing masks now and then with the large city smog issues. But mainly I think in China when the government says to do something most people comply without question. In Australia and other democratic countries so many people have their own opinion despite what our government says, give them the finger and go about their own business. Yes, people in China complained about lockdowns and lack of public transport, but they also sucked it up and complied. Western society bitched about everything and avoided complying as best they could. If it comes down to a world pandemic greater than COVID-19… Adopt China policies and accept it and avoid rolling lockdowns now being felt in the rest of the world.

21 FEBRUARY 2021 … PERTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Just out of a 5-day lockdown last week after a security guard at an isolation hotel tested positive to COVID-19… Protests and bitching, people arrested the week after for not wearing masks when ordered too.

Now we have a vaccine, people are protesting again about the Australian Government requirement to take it and their conspiracy theories that the pandemic is not real… God … tell that to the families of the 2.46 Million people who died and the 111 Million who suffered through it.

They may never truly know where this originated from but let us go with the original assumption that China discovered. A single worker at the seafood market in Wuhan, beside the wildlife market handled or ate an infected bat and passed it onto the fish he was selling. Western society berates Asians for eating wildlife, notes it as disgusting. Yet Western society eats their wildlife, Deer and Elk, wild pig and so many more. In Australia we eat Kangaroo, Emu, and Crocodile. So where is the difference? Is it just that Asians wildlife is smaller?

Now wildlife markets in Asia have gone underground making it impossible to control, trace and, or regulate.

We will see the likes of this Pandemic again. Of that there is no doubt, so let’s learn from this and lockdown early, not sit back and wait to see what happens in a far away land and then put in a smattering of rules and regulations that, in the end, are ineffectual.