COVID-19 Diaries: The Situation In Guangzhou, 83 Days In

Jack, from the U.S., is a 60-year-old high school teacher at an international school in Guangzhou, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He told us why he is glad he didn’t leave Guangzhou when the coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, 987km away, and how life around him has been like in the 3 weeks since forced quarantine measures began.

Q: Hi Jack, thanks for connecting with us all the way from Guangzhou! When did you first hear about the 2019-nCoV / COVID-19 coronavirus and what did you think of it then?

A: I can’t remember exactly when, but I keep up with the news, so sometime early in January? When it first started appearing in the news.

How concerned are you now that Guangdong, within which Guangzhou is located, is one of the provinces outside of Hubei most affected by the virus? How many people do you personally know who’ve been infected with COVID-19?

I haven’t been concerned at all. Right now, there are just over 75,000 confirmed cases in China, but only 1,300 in Guangzhou. From what I understand there have been no new confirmed cases in Guangzhou for the past 4 days. Most of the cases are in Hubei Province which has just over 63,000.

When it first started and we knew we’d be closing the school—I teach high school in an international school—I was a little worried about how bad it would get with memories of SARS and the bird flu dancing in my head.

When it first started to get bad, the Chinese New Year holiday had just started. My wife and I had elected not to travel for the holiday, so we were planning to be in Guangzhou. I remember wondering if we should leave just in case. Now that the school is closed through 16 March and we’re teaching from home online, I’m glad we didn’t. It is just much harder and much more expensive to work from abroad than it is from home.

Why do you choose to stay on in Guangzhou regardless?

The honest truth is that I didn’t think it would affect us much. I don’t know if unconsciously, I thought that it was a Chinese thing and wouldn’t affect us non-Chinese or whether I assumed it wasn’t going to spiral out of control. I know the being a Chinese thing is irrational, but you’d be surprised at how many exceptions are made for foreigners and you kinda get used to it.

How many cases are there in Guangzhou at the moment of this interview? How did most of the cases in Guangzhou get infected?

According to the John Hopkins visualisation site: 1,339. I assume most people were infected in Hubei and travelled here with it. I really don’t know.

What measures have the government of Guangzhou imposed to keep the COVID-19 outbreak under control? How effective do you think those measures have been?

The experts say that limiting travel and contact don’t really work. I assume that they’re right, but I’m not an expert, so I don’t know. Intuitively, it sounds right, but in practice many things don’t work out as well as you think they would. Here in Guangzhou, we are encouraged to stay home. Restaurants, schools, malls, and anywhere large groups of people would gather are closed. You could be fined for being on the street without a mask—again, the experts say the masks have almost no effect on limiting the spread except that they prevent you from touching your nose and mouth, which you do a surprising large amount.

No one can take public transportation without a mask. Apartment complexes are closed to visitors. No one who isn’t a resident is allowed in. Deliveries have to be met at the gate, and China depends on delivery nowadays. Police set up temperature check points for pedestrians and car passengers and public transportation passengers. Who knows what would happen if you had a temperature, but they check. I’ve had my temperature taken half a dozen times a day when I’ve been out. When you return to your apartment complex, they take your temperature.

The apartment complexes here are like villages, there are thousands of people living here—fifty twenty storey buildings together. So, they have small shops in on the first floor of many of them. When I’ve gone to the small grocery store here in the apartment complex, they take your temperature. The pharmacist won’t allow anyone in his shop, he comes to the door.

What is the status of food, water and medical supplies like masks in stores in Guangzhou right now? And how long do you think you and your family can last with the stock you have at home at the moment?

Masks are hard to come by. When you hear of masks available somewhere, you hurry on down to get them. Things seem to be easing up a bit, though. I guess manufacturers have put on enough to start meeting demand.

At the beginning of the lockdown-quarantine situation, the grocery store shelves got a bit bare. Now, they are better stocked. Necessities are available. Luxury items are hit and miss. Everyone drinks bottled water here. Usually it is delivered in large 18 litre jugs. But, deliveries stopped and the grocery stores couldn’t keep up with demand. We started re-filling bottles at the vending machines.

Do you still go out? If so, what precautions do you take when, and before and after, going out?

I’ve been out every few days. There are no real prohibitions about going out, not like there are in Wuhan. There just isn’t much to do out there. Things have started loosening up this week. For example, restaurants were allowed to reopen today (Saturday, 22 Feb).

I wear a mask if I leave the apartment. You’ll see some people wandering the apartment complex maskless, but the one time that I forgot, I was descended upon by passers by and reminded that I needed a mask. I assume that it was out of kindness because being a hapless foreigner, I might not have understood the rules.

In the apartment complex, you see a lot of people out in their pyjamas and lots of unwashed hair. I sometimes wonder if people are depressed. It’s been 3 weeks of this. Cabin fever takes on new meaning.

When I get home, I use hand sanitiser immediately and then wash my hands.

How has the COVID-19 epidemic affected your job?

Most things are closed. Like I said, I teach high school. We’re closed through 16 Mar. We’ve been teaching online, which is a lot harder than in the class, especially since the increase in internet usage has affected connectivity. China blocks many teacher-friendly sites like YouTube, so using a VPN is a must to reach them. But, recently, China stepped up its vigilance on VPN usage, so that made teaching online that much harder.

Is there anything you know about the situation within China or Guangzhou that has not been mentioned, or has been misrepresented, by news agencies outside of China?

Like most things on the news, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It only makes the news if it’s bad. The boring day-to-day stuff doesn’t get shown. Honestly, most people have stayed home and made do.

What will you do if you or your family develop symptoms of the virus? How difficult is it to get a bed at a hospital in Guangzhou these days?

Every time you cough or have any soreness in your throat, you wonder whether this is it, but if we get sick, we’ll go to a clinic and hope for the best. Guangzhou is one of China’s major metropolitan areas. It has an official population of 13 million, but it sprawls all the way to Hong Kong. With just over 1300 infections, we are not taxed at all.

What will you do if the COVID-19 situation in Guangzhou takes a turn for the worse? Have you prepared in any way for the situation taking a turn for the worse?

We have a small stock of water and food. I guess we’ll leave if we’re able. I follow the advisories from the US and Canada. I’m American, my wife is Canadian, so we keep up with those. If they advise leaving, we’ll go.

What are the best and worst examples of humanity you’ve seen since the novel coronavirus crisis broke out?

There really hasn’t been a change that I could see. I took a DiDi (the Chinese equivalent of an Uber) the other day. I coughed behind my mask, and I thought the driver was going to throw me out. Otherwise, it has been no different than on most days. I met a woman at the door to our apartment building with 3 large packages and 1 on the ground. I opened the door and helped her in with her packages. I was trying to load an 18 litre water bottle into my little grocery trolly and kept catching it on the lip of the fabric. A woman hurried over to hold it open for me.

Which 3 items or people are most useful for you right now? 

Just before the lockdown-quarantine started, we had a case of wine delivered. Thank god. Not that we’re big drinkers, but it has been nice not to worry about it. We play lots of board games, so it’s nice having them to occupy our time as well as the PS4 and computers. The apartment manager has been very supportive. He’s helped us get masks, for example. And, we’re pet-sitting for people who are away, and I’m happy having their birds, hamster, and turtles in the house. They are entertaining and add routine to the day.

Lastly, what have you learned from the COVID-19 outbreak that you didn’t know before?

The Internet and social media really have changed everything about our daily lives and how we interact.

You can see more of Jack’s thoughts at thepsyoflifeblog.com or chat with him about the situation in Guangzhou using the comment box below.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk with an expat, also from the Guangdong province, who elected to leave China when the COVID-19 outbreak first began, to find out what he thinks of that decision now. Follow the latest in our COVID-19 Diaries series here.

If you’re in a country that has been affected by the novel coronavirus and would like to share information about the situation where you’re at, do get in touch with us here.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Jack. Interviewer: Sy
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