Coronavirus situation in Suzhou
Happy Chinese New Year! Well, not so happy in China. As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, China is facing a new virus that originated in the city of Wuhan and has now spread throughout the country and even abroad. As of 9 pm China time today, January 27th, there are more than 2800 confirmed cases and 5800 suspected cases. 81 people have died so far and 56 recovered. I started hearing news about the virus maybe 3 weeks ago, but things didn’t take a major turn until last Thursday, when Wuhan was put on lockdown and public transportation stopped. However, because it was right before the New Year holidays, many people had already left Wuhan and the virus spread everywhere.
My holidays started last Thursday and we were not planning to travel anywhere, if anything just to Wuxi, the closest city. However, as I work from home, I did intend to spend some time outside, see some friends, go to Ikea, see the CNY decorations in the malls… Bad luck, Marta! Because of the virus, the official recommendation is to stay at home and avoid going out unles absolutely necessary. But I can’t really complain, because at least we were prepared to spend the holiday here and our pantry and freezer were full. Imagine all the people (possibly millions) that were planning to go back to their hometowns and had to change their plans at the last moment, with many grocery shops already closed for the holidays. This video was shot by a Wuhan vlogger 24 hours after the lockdown was announced and it shows the empty streets and the crazy lines in the supermarkets. Also, let’s not forget about all the people (again, possibly millions) that were going to have their annual reunion with their family to spend the holidays. In China, many people from villages or smaller cities work in a bigger city and only see their parents or children once a year.
So, how has the situation been for us in Suzhou? Until last Wednesday we didn’t worry much about the virus, but after the Wuhan lockdown panic started to spread. People don’t talk about anything else in WeChat and other social media (well, with the exception of Kobe Bryant’s death today; he was very popular in China). Yesterday it was announced that the holidays have been extended until February 3rd at the very least (we were supposed to go back to work this Friday). However, before the central government announced this extension, the Suzhou government had already communicated that companies were not allowed to go back to work until the 9th, so now I don’t know which date prevails. Schools cannot start the new term before February 17th. I think these dates might be subject to change depending on how the situation unfolds these next few days. This is totally unprecedented, China never gives away holidays for free and we always have to work on the weekend before the CNY holiday and the October week off.
Empty streets in Suzhou.
For now there have been 8 confirmed cases in Suzhou and a lot of rumours. On Thursday I had a date with a friend to bring the kids to a playground, but that was the day things took a turn for the worse and she cancelled our meeting. On Thursday evening we went to a restaurant to have dinner with our friends who came from Taiwan. We were all wearing masks which we took off to eat, of course, haha, but the restaurant staff wore masks at all times. After that day we followed the recommendation of not going outside and it has been a bit boring. I guess I’m probably gaining weight too thanks to all the festive food and to not being able to walk too much. I’ve been reading more than usual and also watching some tv (we are currently watching Watchmen). But most of the time is spent trying to entertain Baby A. and checking the news on our phones. We are also getting up quite late because, after all, we don’t have much to do… This afternoon we sneaked out for a little while to visit my husband’s grandma. The streets were quite empty and most of the few people who were outside had masks on.
Yummy pastries someone sent us from Beijing.
Are these the worst holidays ever? Probably. At least we won’t starve, but I cannot guarantee we won’t go crazy from being holed up for so long! Please let me know if you have any suggestions of activities to do at home with a 17 month old!
Oh, good lord, cooped up with a toddler? My sympathies! I’d rather brave a virus. And if no one is at the playground, then I guess you don’t have to worry about infection?!
I’ve built a lot of forts and played a lot of games with stuffed animals, plus my husband has pretended to be a fire truck or a bucket truck, lifting Baby D in the air. It’s exhausting.
Thank you for the interesting post! In Canada, we only have 2 cases (not yet confirmed by DNA sequencing) and we are in solidarity with all of you in
China. Best wishes for the New Year and be healthy.
Thank you!! I expect the number of cases will still rise quite a lot. But it seems for people in good health it’s not too dangerous? Let’s see how this ends…
I think if I bring the baby outside everybody would give me the stinky eye. But it’s been a week already and he’s rabid! And this could last until the summer! Really don’t know what to do.
Take him outside and give the stink eye back.
The main stink eyer would be my husband, hahaha. I’ll wait a few days.
Maybe he should stay home and play with Baby A all day, then.
They’re really taking it seriously–which may be a good thing–but also very disruptive. Imagine: no work, no school, and no celebrating CNY. I hope it has the desired result. But how can they keep this up?
Your pastries look yummy. Enjoy.
My grandson was born on Jan. 28, so to celebrate his birthday and CNY, I took him, his roommates, my sister, and my daughter out to a Chinese restaurant this weekend.
We do have one case of coronavirus in a nearby town, someone who recently returned from Wuhan. So far only one.
Everybody here is being quite well behaved and stays at home as per the recommendation. But how long can we stay like this? It’s been a week already and my son is going crazy. I think they might be able to keep this situation for another week, but after that people will get tired… I really want to go out too!
Hope you’re safe and sound in Suzhou! Apparently the Chinese government is giving fake numbers and there are many more confirmed cases… be careful out there! Hope you have a great CNY! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I’ve heard those rumours too but I don’t know what to believe. I think they might be delaying the confirmations, but hiding the true numbers would be quite stupid as it would be known at some point and it would make them look even worse…
Since Thailand receives the most Chinese tourists, we’ve been reading the news like crazy, too. I don’t think folks realize the scale of these lock downs because they don’t know how crowded China is.
For example, Los Angeles has a population of 10 million (same as Suzhou?). Can they imagine a city (even larger, Wuhan) grinding to a halt? And how many large Chinese cities have been shutdown? It’s utterly bananas, and makes the rest of the world wonder just how serious this is.
I think the longest I’ve been shut in was during a California wildfire, and that wasn’t that long – I don’t think. A few days? I can’t remember.
Thankfully, your 17 month old child won’t remember any of this. You could decorate the apartment with lights, build a fort, pretend to do cooking classes, paint? learn to crochet? I don’t know what supplies you have. Make your own jigsaw puzzle. Think DIY crafts! Gather all of A’s art into a book? Make a board game with trivia questions?
I hope you all stay safe and sound. My heart goes out to China. This hits hard because of the CNY, and I know governments are blabbing on about financial losses, but really everyone’s going to be effected.
It really is amazing, I think around 30 million are in lockdown in Hubei province. Here we can go out if we want but it’s discouraged. All entertainment places have been shut down. I think some malls stay open but are mostly empty.
I made some jigsaw puzzles and another game with toilet paper rolls and a ball hahaha.
There is so much fake news, crazy news, and conflicting stuff out there…Thinking of you all. xo
Hong Kong people are super worried about the situation because unlike in Mainland China, they are too scared to make more drastic changes to stop the virus. They didn’t even officially said to wear masks! I hope you stay safe! Shower with sanitiser 😝
Sanitiser is not easy to get these days 🤣
The measures China took would be impossible in any other place, no democratically elected government would dare to take such a drastic and impopular measure… But I do hope it works.
Tough situation being cooped up with Baby A. Seven confirmed cases here in Australia. Lots of masks being worn which is something not really done much here. Good luck with the entertaining; I have no suggestions unfortunately. Keep safe!
Thanks, Sue! I heard in some countries there were racist attacks against Chinese who were wearing masks…
Bad Aussies do it here Marta. We Can’t blame every Chinese for the problem. That’s just stupid but so are the people who are abusing Chinese.
Thank you very much for this informative post! I enjoyed reading it and learning from your thoughts! I have recently published an article on my blog about coronavirus and whether we should be concerned about the disease. If you have time, it would be great if you could check out my post and let me know your thoughts! Thanks :)
We left to Hong Kong last Friday from Suzhou. 5 day trip planned a couple of days before. But will stay at least another week. Hongqiao airport, only 1 customs and 1 security line open, but no one in front of us. The rest of the airport also mostly deserted, except the flight to Hong Kong, who was almost full. take care, Jean.
Have fun in HK! At least you can go outside there, I think. I have barely left home for a week! I hope things can return to normal soon so you can come back and I can go for a walk 😁
I’m in Qufu, my wife’s hometown (in Central Shandong for the non-China expat readers). Things here have scaled up in last few days. Of course, almost everything was closed. it started with temperature checks and sign in at the grocery stores. Then check points in the community I’m staying in. Today, the big grocery store in town was restricted to only Shandong residents. No outsiders allowed in, including me. They was a lot of shouting and angry non-locals who were turned away. Then I got word from the wife that our community was being closed tonight. I had to horde a bunch more food and basic supplies. So now I’m locked inside the community until further notice. Going to be a long and boring new few weeks… Keep safe out there and wash those hands!
Shops are doing temperature checks here too, and it’s required to wear masks to enter, but closing shops to non residents is crazy. Your community is completely locked? You cannot go out at all? That’s bollocks and probably illegal.
I did hear that, to discourge people from other places entering Suzhou, only residents and people with an employment certificate from here can enter the city. I’m not sure though how this is being implemented, control checks on every single road entering Suzhou? Seems too difficult. Let’s see how this week goes, people here are not supposed to go back to work until next Monday.
Yes, locked in our housing complex. Thank the gods we rented our own apartment and aren’t living with the in-laws. I might be more dangerous than a virus if that had happened. Who knows about the legality – Governments get a pretty big range of power when emergencies are declared. Not a big fan of being told what to do. Qufu is now apparently a closed city so I’m not going anywhere for a while. Outside of the boredom, we’re hanging in. We can get food deliveries handed over the wall and one person per household is allowed to leave for an hour every couple of days. Kind of defeats the purpose of a lock down. I doubt you’ll actually go back to work. Seems they just keep extending the dates as they near – probably to keep the panic in order. Honestly, I rather be locked up here than in America where everyone is armed with guns and doesn’t take to well to government orders. Anyway, we all continue to plod through the days. Hang in there with your little one. Going through this with a kiddo is a very different experience. I don’t really worry about myself, just worry for her.
I’m back to work! I always work from home anyway! All my colleagues who usually go to the office are working from home too. I haven’t had anything to do for now, though.
I’m not a big fan of following orders either. If this had happened in a western country, everybody would be infected by now, hahaha. But who controls how often and how long you go out? The security guards at the gate? Gosh, I hope Suzhou doesn’t reach that extent.
My son doesn’t seem very bothered but making him sleep is a nightmare… he’s just not tired enough.
Vancouver and Toronto airports are major flight layovers for passengers from Asia.
And here in the middle of the Canadian praiiries….well, actually in my department, we do have a work CAnadian colleague who annually visits her aging parents for Chinese New Year’s in Wuhan. She’s there..she got there a few days before the lockdown.
Originally she’s scheduled to return to work after VAlentine’s Day. But it doesn’t look like that now.
Her work cubicle area is beside mine. She, hubby and grown daughter immigrated to CAnada over 20 years ago.
Her sister is a middle manager for the municipality of Wuhan. I know she loves to visit Calgary every summer because our air is cleaner, skies are brighter and summers aren’t humid. We’ll see what happens this summer.
I feel sorry for my work colleague.
Yep, I feel sorry for your colleague too. Not sure when the Wuhan lockdown will end. But at least she’s with her parents! I hope they are safe.
I don’t have any ideas on what to do with you child, especially all the time inside! Would go crazy after a couple of days I guess.
We sent already hundreds of masks to the family and friends we have in China, however just days before all the shut downs occured we went to the pharmacies in my town and non of them had masks left! They all had been bought already in the end of 2019, some people really had some grand plan it seems. At one pharmacy the staff told me just to go to some hard ware store and by the simple masks there….thanks a lot!
We have some very close friends in Wuhan and they suffered a lot already last year (husband died, daughter had cerebral haemorrhage in winter and now this). They are doing still fine but they had planned to go to Finland for a few months in order to escape this madness and baught tickets already and voila Wuhan was shut down and their flights cancelled.
Family in Xi’an is just staying inside except for MIL, but for that one person I have a blog post planned this weekend, just insane this woman
Let me guess, your MIL is like business as usual and going out as if nothing happened, haha. Well at least she won’t be able to go inside shops or public transportation without a mask. But, realistically, the chances of getting the virus are very small… Unless she asks everybody to sneeze in her face hahaha.
Yep, many airlines have stoppped flying to and from China. Well apart from Wuhan being totally closed… Your friends really have some bad luck chasing them!!
Yeah MIL is not a person to just follow “rules” or “guidelines”. She just does whatever she feels like to and it often results in really wonderful results -.-
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