COVID-19 in Shenzhen - March Update

As the COVID-19 coronavirus has begun what seems to be a relentless march across the globe, China is entering into it’s third month since bringing attention to it to the wider public and its fourth month since information started circulating about it in December. Last month I wrote about how Shenzhen, in the south near Hong Kong and where I live, was being affected by COVID-19. A month on it seems a good time for an update.

Some things haven’t changed much. Most places are still taking your temperature to get in. You want to go to the supermarket? The mall? A restaurant? A subway station? You apartment complex? Then you’ve gotta get scanned. This hasn’t let up since last month and as things reopen we’re seeing it even more.

Masks are still required, although the rules may be a little less stringent than before. To go outside or visit places with lots of people like malls or restaurants you still need your mask but as I understand it you don’t need one if you’re someplace without many people, like a park, as long as you’re healthy and stay a certain distance from other people. For most practical purposes though, like shopping or just generally getting out, you probably still need one.

One company gets to set up inside the complex

Apartment complexes still seemed locked down, although they’re loosening up a little it seems. Before nobody could get into the complex that didn’t live there, but since last month the delivery tent, where delivery guys leave any packages that people ordered, has been moved just inside the complex, so they’re at least allowed to come in just past the guards to leave packages. At least one company also seems to have set up in the middle of my complex so either they have lots of workers who live in the complex or they’ve somehow gotten permission to come in.

Masks still seem hard to get and stores don’t seem to have any but I believe the government is doing some kind of lottery system where you can get some. You need to register somewhere and if you get picked you can pick your masks up from a pharmacy. I’m not entirely sure how it works. I haven’t tried to get any and I don’t know anybody who has. On the other hand food is plentiful. I haven’t seen any supermarkets run out of anything and you can still order delivery if you don’t want to cook. You just need to walk to the entrance of your complex to get the food instead of it coming straight to your door.

Many places now require you to register with your real name. At least…I think that’s how it works. It’s all in Chinese so I’m not 100% sure. But our apartment complex, taxis, and the subway all have things you need to scan and register on before you go in/when you get there. Some places also have QR codes for the phone companies that need to be scanned that check to make sure your phone number has been in the country for 14 days, to make sure you haven’t left, or if you have you’ve been back for at least 2 weeks.

The city still seems emptier than normal, especially now so far after Chinese New Year. That being said there are far more people out and about than a month ago. Many places have returned to work so people had to return to their city and leave their apartments. Walking around I’ve seen more people, at restaurants I’ve seen more, and in pictures that friends have posted I’ve seen more. All wearing masks of course. But normally in mid March the city would have filled back up so any decrease in people is much more noticeable now than it was at the beginning of February when you expected the city to be emptier than normal.

No sitting directly across from each other at tables

For a while in February many restaurants were partially closed as well. Sit down dining was prohibited in many parts of the city so many restaurants were only offering take away or delivery. Now though most seem to have reopened for sit down dining, although there are still rules. Unless they’ve changed recently people aren’t allowed to sit opposite each other, they can only sit next to each other or diagonally across from each other. So a table for 4 people can only sit 2 right now. This lets people start eating out again but still mostly prevents groups of more than 3 or 4 people from going out together. I have seen this relaxed in some places so maybe the government is starting to let restaurants start operating normally again.

Some things are still closed. Notably movie theaters and theme parks have yet to reopen as the government tries to keep people from being in too close proximity. Schools have also yet to physically reopen. Classes have resumed but they are being taught online to keep contact to a minimum. As far as I know no official date for physically returning to school has been announced.

Overall Shenzhen seems to be slowly getting back to normal. There are still many safety measures in place but their severity seems to have peaked and started trending downward.

That’s what Shenzhen is like as of the posting of this blog (March 15). If anything changes drastically I’ll either edit this post or make a new one. If you’ve got any questions feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll try to get back to you with the best answer I can.

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