After 50 days of self-quarantine in mainland China, I left my apartment and here’s how coronavirus-life is like.

I rarely do this but I decide to share my experience here after an abandoned thought of reposting Donald McNeil’s interview. A) I was very disappointed in NYT’s biased reporting of lockdowns in mainland China vs that in Italy on March 8th, thus hesitant to share from their source so soon after. B) I found so little voice of local residents in major media reportings and I don’t need someone 3000 miles away to account for what I have experienced anymore.

On January 18th, I returned to my apartment from a road trip in the Zhejiang area. The plan was to rest for three days, pack up my stuffs and to fly to see my 88-years-old grandma in Hainan (the southernmost province of China). Little did I know that day was the first of the 50 indoor days to come. Here’s a quick schedule of events that week:

Jan 20th: I was finally caught up with the news and realized Zhejiang was no lack of new coronavirus cases.
Jan 21st: Masks were short online and anxiety was all over social media.
Jan 22nd: I got on multiple long international phone calls with family members who were supposed to gather all together in Hainan.
Jan 23rd: Cases were popping up in my area. I cancelled my flight.

I chose to take action in the form of self-quarantine because that is the best thing I could have done then.

I thought it would be a week or at most two. After a few days, I was expecting a month. Soon after that, I just stopped counting. I was one of many, many in the form of millions, of residents here who went into quarantine on our own not only for self-protection but also for public health and safety. I was perfectly well throughout this entire period with no contact with anyone who has travelled to sensitive areas. I chose to take action in the form of self-quarantine because that was the best thing I could have done then. Many thought all mainland Chinese citizens here are forced to stay at home with their personal liberties taken away from incorrect reporting in the media. It is true for some highly affected areas in Wuhan and it might be true for the entire country for very few days, but absolutely false for most of the 50 days that I have spent inside my apartment.

Professionally, I am self-employed and I can work from anywhere at the stage of the project I am in. For every day I leave my apartment, I would need to spend a mask — which could have been used by a medical worker somewhere else in this country. I would then need to either take a cab or public transit to travel. That means at least one another person or at most workers for an entire transit system would need to be present in the public space. If I want to get a coffee, then the barista would need to be at work. I am only one person but what if millions, or billions, of people decide to take action in this form? There were days in early February that travel was not possible or extremely difficult and risky. However, it was still at my liberty to leave, to see my grandma in Hainan or to fly home-home, which is outside of mainland China for me. I could have gone to the mall or take a stroll in the park. Like many residents here, I chose to stay put because that was the most effective way to help in this pandemic.

Last Friday, March 13th, I finally left my apartment. There has been no new cases in my area for more than 14 days and zero existing case for a couple days already, but I didn’t head out until I had to. Here’s how it was like:

1. I applied for a Health QR Code. The QR code is not 100% mandatory but it is important to have one (you will see why later). As half a foreigner here, I was relieved when it shows up as green. Green means low risk individuals, yellow medium and red high. The system is nation-wide but it varies province to province. Basically it pulls data from the network carrier of your phone number and check if you have been in coronavirus-active areas. For instance, if you have travelled to cities or towns with a high number of cases in the past 14 days, your QR code might show up as yellow. If you have been in Wuhan in the past 14 days or lived in an area where new cases were recorded recently (radius and duration varies province to province), then your code will likely be red. In short, green is what you want.
2. I left my building and the guard checked my body temperature (no personal information taken).
3. I went to a shopping center for wholesale goods and all entrances are closed but one with a checkpoint. At this checkpoint, my temperature is taken again (with no personal information taken) and I have to scan the QR code of this location with my phone. The way it works is not for the location to scan your QR code (so that your privacy is protected from the shopping center). You scan the QR code of this location to log it into your personal record. It does two things here. The first purpose is to lower the risk for the public mass here — if your QR code is not green, you will likely be rejected from entering this location. Secondly, should any cases arise from this location (for example, from an employee who works at certain store here), then you will be notified.
4. I browsed through products at various stores and every single store I visited has provided free hand-sanitizers. Some even provides free masks.
5. I wanted a cup of tea, the kind in a takeaway cup, and so I went to a cafe nearby. Signs are up noting that seatings are not available at the moment to reduce unnecessary social contact. Orders are only taken by ordering through “mini-programs” on Wechat and orders will be left on the counter when ready for pick-up. It was absolutely zero human contact. I notice the same procedures are taken at the neighboring bakery.
6. I removed my mask briefly for the tea and enjoyed the sensation of holding a warm paper cup in my palm. When I returned to the store, I immediately realized I forgot to put my mask back on with various looks casted at me from other customers. OKAY, I AM PUTTING IT BACK ON RIGHT NOW.
7. I left the shopping center and went through the same checkpoint, I logged this again by scanning the location QR code on my phone. This means — should it come a time when the authorities need to check when and where a virus carrier had been in the future, it is just a search away.
8. On the way home, I noticed that similar measures are being taken across public spaces in the city — malls, office buildings, large groceries stores and basically any public spaces that could have a crowd. Finally, at the entrance of my building, my temperature is taken again before I head back to my apartment.

Despite that there are still over ten thousand cases across the country with countless medical workers fighting against the virus, I am feeling none of the anxiety as reported of the current situation in mainland China on social media or certain major international media. I found the majority of citizens here feeling hopeful yet still highly alerted and responsible. This might be the first time I felt the power of social order and I wish I could express it better.

Writing from a second-tier city, my experience could be very different from those living in Wuhan, Beijing or the suburbs these last two months, but it is also not unsimilar to many others. No matter where you are reading this from, if you have a story too and are sick of how the media fails to represent your own experience, please do share. We need more people doing that.