Coronavirus - those in China, and general discussion

[abcdefg]

On 2/22/2020 at 9:27 AM, ChTTay said:

My apartment in Beijing now has passes to get in and out. Are we late to the party? 

 

Similar arrangement in Kunming currently. Must show 身份证 plus an Exit/Entry Pass specific to her housing complex, then sign a log book and have temperature checks. Face masks of course. Another series of similar checks as one exits or enters the neighborhood 小区。Sounds like a fairly standardized approach. My lady friend sent me her's last night during our daily chat. 

 

She's suffering financially because the company where she usually works is closed and she has no social benefits (specifically, no unemployment compensation.) And she's getting real tired of being cooped up in her small apartment most of each day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though Kunming has not had much presence of this virus, it is trying to be a 文明城市 "Civilized city." Trying to be careful and responsible.  

[Flickserve]

On 2/22/2020 at 10:53 PM, Tomsima said:

Any time I question the process, everyone just refers me to my receding hairline...

 

Yeah, but look at the amazing ability in Chinese that you have as evidence of the benefit of hard tap water.

[Shelley]

@Tomsima I see from the news you have been released from quarantine, hope you and yours are well and looking forward to some normality. Stay safe.

[the madman]

This site is a good source for numbers infected / recovered etc and has a great deal of info on it including none China numbers. Throughout the day it also shows up and down trends on the various totals so gives an idea of how it’s going.
 

 

https://ncov.dxy.cn/ncovh5/view/pneumonia

 

( forgive if it has already been posted )

[StChris]

At the supermarket yesterday they were trying to enforce a queue at the registration/temperature check table, with at least 1.5 metres space between each person (they even put stickers on the floor every 1.5 metres). Needless to say, there is no chance in hell of that working in Harbin! People were at least trying to keep a 0.5m distance from the person in front of them (rather than the normal 1cm), but then a middle aged 东北大妈 came in and tried to jump right to the front. After she was told to get to the back, she then cut in in the 1.5m space I was trying to maintain with the person in front of me. 

 

Even in a crisis, some things never change ?

[Tomsima]

Yep, happy to say we're both out of quarantine here in the uk now, the whole group tested negative for the third and final time, so we were all allowed to leave the facility this morning. It has been over a month in isolation for us, but thats looking like nothing now really in comparison to my wife's family, who are all still cooped up indoors and looks like they will be until the new preliminary office opening date of March 10th at the very earliest. Its strange to think what things would be like if we didnt have video calling - with it we feel very connected to everyone back at home almost as if we're still there…I can't imagine how panicked we might be without it.

 

Looks like infection rates are now starting to gradually drop in Hubei finally, but obviously sad to see things look like theyre on the rise in SK just like last month in Wuhan, I don't know much about Korean culture Im afraid, don't know how the government might or might not respond differently there…

[Flickserve]

Glad to hear the good news.

 

Iran is a big worry. We are not out of the woods yet 

[StChris]

Here are a couple of new chengyu for everyone (well, I should say new to me) that are relevant to the current situation in China (outside of Hubei anyway):

 

胜利在望 and 前功尽弃

 

胜利在望 means victory is in sight

前功尽弃 basically means that all of one's previous hard work and effort has gone down the drain. I've seen this used as a warning not to let our guard down just yet, despite the good news coming from many provnces. If things go back to normal too soon, then there's a chance the virus may make a return. This saying might also be applicable to your Chinese too, if you follow a period of hard studying with a long period of not using it at all and hence forgetting everything you learnt ?

[Dawei3]

12 hours ago, Flickserve said:

Iran is a big worry

Absolutely.  Now 8 countries are reporting a cases in people who visited Iran:  Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Lebanon, UAE, Oman, and Canada.  Notably, Iran's health minister has claimed the country has very few cases:  just 61 as of 24 Feb and saying 12 had died (suggesting a case mortality of >25%, i.e., ~10x higher than the rest of the world).  Notably on 20 Feb, Iran said they had just 2 cases  (yet somehow just these 2 cases infected people from many countries).  

 

Deaths are more likely to be reported than simple infections, so this suggests that the Iranian government is strongly covering up cases.  Notably, today an Iranian lawmaker from Qom reported that the city has 250 cases and 50 deaths (i.e., in conflict with their Health minister).  https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-died-virus-total-death-toll-12-69170688

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3052143/coronavirus-how-irans-death-toll-came-be-highest-behind-only

 

Hence, from a transparency perspective, my sense is that China is doing a far better job than Iran.  It's an interesting contrast:  News reports suggest that early on local gov't officials in Wuhan suppressed information and the central government pushed for openness.  In contrast, it appears the central gov't in Iran is trying to suppress information from local governments.  

 

I wonder about the situation in India.  As of today, it has just 3 cases.  However, that may be related to the # of people tested (maybe very very few?).  Trump just gave a talk to a "huge rally" in  cricket stadium in Gujarat - what an absurd thing to do.  Even just a handful of people in the stadium could have spread it.  

 

Reading that most of Singapore's cases are homegrown, rather than imported, suggests that warm weather won't stop the spread of the virus:  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/wuhan-virus-singapore-confirmed-cases-coronavirus-12324270    

 

 

 

 

[abcdefg]

I'm in the US now, and was telling someone this morning about how you had to have a pass to go out of your apartment or apartment complex/小区 in many/most cities. (Such as this one from my friend in Kunming.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The person I was talking with asked me, "What do you do if you are a dog owner and have a dog in your apartment? What about taking the dog out to relieve himself?"

 

"Hmm, I don't know how that works" was my frank answer.

 

Anyone know? (Would prefer first hand info, not a guess.) 

[matteo]

While news from China seem to be cautiously optimistic, elsewhere in the world there's quite a different vibe.

Northern Italy had a few cases ( 230 cases and 7 deaths to date, all of them over 80) and in typical fashion people went in full blown panic mode. 

Public services have been limited or interrupted based on seemingly random logic (friends tell me that you can go out and use public transport but for instance sporting centers have all been shut down) and people are literally assaulting supermarkets. 

 

edit: I wanted to paste the pictures under the text but apparently I attached them instead, will try to see if I can correct

ri-edit: the JPEG worked, had to open them up in paint and save them o_o

 

 

 

 

[roddy]

That’s a weird file format, any chance of a good old-fashioned jpeg?

[Tomsima]

3 hours ago, abcdefg said:

What do you do if you are a dog owner and have a dog in your apartment?

 

This has been one of the big questions frequently coming up on my wechat feed, and definitely highlights the different approach of the chinese authorities compared to here in the uk (every day in the whole two weeks we were in quarantine some one would call our room to check how we were doing physically and mentally, asking if there was anything they could do to help re things needing to be done in the outside world). Individual needs of people in quarantine are only being addressed in the most vital areas, eg. making sure food trucks can get into cities so people wont starve to death. There are many people I know whose dogs/cats are trapped in apartments where they cant get to. In most cases there is a neighbour who can go round for them and take out litter, feed them etc. But yes, there is one flat I know which now has dog poo in pretty much every room. My cousin has a cat and dog that are stuck in a house out in the rural countryside. There is a cat flap that the cat had almost certainly escaped out of now, but they're presuming the dog is currently starving if he hasn't already found a way to get out already (there are literally no neighbours to help out, or anyone willing/able to go to where the house is). Very sad situation…

[Tomsima]

On 2/23/2020 at 5:12 PM, Flickserve said:

Yeah, but look at the amazing ability in Chinese that you have as evidence of the benefit of hard tap water.

 

haha the only things apparently in common between the water in the uk and trying to learn Chinese: they're both hard and making me go bald…

[StChris]

3 hours ago, abcdefg said:

I'm in the US now, and was telling someone this morning about how you had to have a pass to go out of your apartment or apartment complex/小区 in many/most cities. (Such as this one from my friend in Kunming.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The person I was talking with asked me, "What do you do if you are a dog owner and have a dog in your apartment? What about taking the dog out to relieve himself?"

 

Most 小区s have a little common garden-like area downstairs, so I often see people walking their dog there (luckily, my complex is quite modern and has a nice area to walk around. Even the older one's seem to have some sort of outside area where you can go without needing to use a ticket. I think that most dog owners have some kind of litter tray as well, otherwise it would be a massive hassle to keep having to go downstairs every time your dog wants to take a piss. I'm currently looking after a neighbour's dog and they have one too.

[Shelley]

@abcdefg reposting this for you.

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/feb/14/catman-of-wuhan-the-man-rescuing-pets-abandoned-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-video?fbclid=IwAR3roXmHcAnbcJgQiOHOIQC-2fpShobXIifwSwxBXRcr_dHdo7-tj2ioAUw

[abcdefg]

Thank you, @Tomsima, @StChris and @Shelley. Being shut in and having a pet to look after would add to the hassle factor and worry, though i guess a dog or cat would give one some company. 

[Shelley]

What made me shed a tear was those animals that had to be left on their own, how many are there and how horrible was their suffering and why couldn't something been thought of. I know people come first but.....

[abcdefg]

It was a very moving video!

[Lu]

15 hours ago, abcdefg said:

The person I was talking with asked me, "What do you do if you are a dog owner and have a dog in your apartment? What about taking the dog out to relieve himself?"

A friend of mine in Taipei had trained her dog to go on the bathroom floor. This was some years ago, not even related to any kind of quarantine, just convenience. She told me she knew of friends who had done the same. If one can teach that to a quarantined dog, that would be a good method. Or you can perhaps have the dog go on an old newspaper.

 

That won't solve the problem of the dog going half mad from staying indoors all the time, though. And it assumes the dog owner is also at home, not quarantined somewhere else.