As of January 2020, the coronavirus spread from China Hubei province to a pandemic, affecting thousands of people worldwide. My Chinese friend Miss Wu and I have been having conversations on that topic using her past and present experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. I was inquisitive to hear about the actual situation because the first country infected was China, and they have started to gain experience living with the disease.
We wish to share our conversations and ideas about this challenging time. We will discuss three main aspects. The first one concerns our way of dealing with an unexpected pandemic. The second concerns home quarantine. The last aspect concerns the measurements we take against the pandemic and the future.
Day 1 | starting point
Miss Wu: I work as a teacher at Southwest University in China and have a part-time job making customized travel arrangements. At the very beginning, Universities were shut down, so I had to organize the lectures for my students via the internet. I had very little time to prepare the online class for my pupils.
At the same time, I started 14 days of home quarantine. During that period, I received logistics help and care from the Neighborhood administrator’s management. For example, they delivered groceries and shopping directly to my door flat.
My household was permitted to remain with me after bringing a health check, which confirmed they were sound.
What about all my friends? We Can leave the house and meet with friends outside. However, we cannot go to public spaces for social activities. For example, Karaoke bars and dance clubs are closed.
I have a good friend who lives on the floor above, but it’s Better not to enter her apartment. We prefer to meet outside in open places. She invites me to her house, but I must refuse for health protection purposes, she has a small child and I cannot take any risk of causing inconvenienced.
Neta: We just celebrated the Passover Holiday. Usually, the Passover Holiday is like Easter, a real family gathering event. This time, each family stayed home alone.
Nobody was allowed outside unless it was urgent. The furthest one was granted to go was 100 meters from their house. At the moment, we are not permitted to play with our allies, and it is even better to keep social distancing from our family members if we live in the same house. People who were coming back from abroad had to go into quarantine either at home or at a few hotels that were set up, especially for infected people.
When we talked at the beginning of April 2020, I learned that China is starting to decompress the self-quarantine regulations, and people are slowly getting out of quarantine and back to form. During this time, we, in contrast, just stepped into quarantine and stayed at home until we received a fresh update.
Miss Wu: The virus outbreak was unexpected and happened during our special time of the year “The Chinese New Year”.
The timing was not so good. On the one hand, many had a chance to see their families when it was happening, but on the other hand, it made the holiday period stressful and unpleasant.
Neta: I learned about the virus just when it happened, as my tourist’ groups got canceled. No one in the tourism field thought it would be that serious. From the time that we realized the virus had arrived, the government-imposed instructions for everyone. This includes closing all educational facilities, public websites, shopping malls, eating places, and stores except pharmacies and grocers. Along with self-quarantine, social distancing and putting on masks became mandatory.
People who are going to work need to wear masks and remain socially distancing. Inside public transportation, a coach can hold a maximum of 10 people.
China and Israel | Summary of home QUARANTINE
Every country has taken different approaches
In Israel, we are still being cautious, and self-quarantine is still in power.
China is an example of a nation that took quick steps against the virus at once: putting on masks, checking individual health, quarantining, and home isolation, while other countries like Israel are studying the disease and taking these steps gradually.
As we persist in our conversations, we will talk about going into full quarantine and adjusting to stay at home.
Main effects:
International flights were canceled.
People who came back from abroad had to go into quarantine either at home or to hotels that has been transformed to “Corona-Hotels”, a safe place to follow the infected people.
Only vital workers came to their workplace, and the rest stayed to work from home or did not work.
When going to work, people keep wearing masks and keep social distancing.
Can not visit your doctor in person unless it’s urgent. The meeting will first be online.
Public Transportation – maximum ten people on a bus
We both had holidays and celebrated in an unpredictable way.
Final words
Chinese used to take an extended vacation once a year during the Chinese New Year celebration. This might be their only yearly opportunity to see their families, living a few hours or days apart. Some people changed their plans and stayed home or were hurrying to return home without staying with their family as planned. After the holiday finished, most everyone stayed at home and waited for instructions. Many people missed their jobs for good. Still, after almost three months of quarantine, the Chinese controlled the diseases because everyone practiced what they should: citizens wore masks, and hospitals functioned efficiently around the clock.
also, check our video on the topic
In Israel, there was a gradual process, foremost of all cancellations of flights, quarantine at home, and finally, a focus on masks and social distancing. In China, during the outbreak, some people lost their jobs, which were based on tourism, the culinary field, and so on. If we follow instructions and take security precautions, we wish to return to our new everyday life quickly, like in China.
