Shenzhen During the Coronavirus
Shenzhen China. Coronavirus Outbreak
What’s it really like in China during the Coronavirus outbreak? Well that’s going to be different depending on the place. Especially if that place is Wuhan, where it started. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province, which is sort of central/east in China. I live in Shenzhen, which is in Guangdong Province. Guangdong is two provinces south of Hubei and borders Hong Kong. Most of the cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus are still in Wuhan. Guangdong and Shenzhen have far fewer cases so what’s going on here isn’t quite as intense as in Wuhan.
One of the first things to happen in Guangdong was a requirement to wear masks in public. I don’t think this is a requirement across the country but it is in Guangdong. The obvious problem with this is that masks are sold out. Pretty much everywhere. So if you didn’t have any masks before they sold out then you’re...kind of out of luck now? I’m honestly not sure what the government does in regards to people who don’t have any masks. We bought some in Japan right before we left. I got lucky honestly. Max made me buy them. I thought for sure we’d be able to buy some when we got back to Shenzhen. I was wrong. Very wrong.
Another thing that happened pretty early here in Shenzhen was that lots of places started taking temperatures. I guess that a temperature is one of the symptoms of the virus so if people had a temperature they would send them to the hospital to get checked up. At first it was happening at malls and metro stations and stuff and now it pretty much happens everywhere. They take your temperature to get into malls, supermarkets, pedestrian areas, apartment complexes, restaurants, cafes. They even started taking our temperature to leave our apartment complex.
The next thing I noticed was that our apartment complex got locked down. At first you could stroll in and out at will, just slowing down long enough for them to take your temperature. A little bit later they closed off all but one entrance so that everyone had to go in and out the same entrance. Next they started writing down the information of everyone who came in, including temperature, name, and apartment number. This could mean that people who don’t live in the complex can’t get in, but I haven’t tried to bring anyone in so I’m not sure. Now we get our temperature taken even to leave.
Delivery men are definitely not allowed into our complex though. In the past when you got a package they would bring it to your apartment if you were there and if not they would leave it in a box outside. You get the code by text or in an app and you go get the package out of the box whenever. But now they can’t get in. So all the deliveries seem to be coming to one of the closed entrances. Then they call you and you have to go out to meet them and they hand you your package over the gate. I’m not sure what happens if you’re not home because you’re working or something. Maybe you need to state when you’ll be home when you order?
I’ve heard that when someone gets the virus the government tries to figure out who they were in contact with to see if they have the virus too. All of the security at the apartment is probably an attempt to make that easier. They can do a quick check to see when you came into your apartment to try to get a picture of when you’ve been out.
Subway stations seem to be doing the same thing now as well. Most stations have more than one entrance but right now some of them seem closed. They don’t seem to be closing all but one like at my apartment but they are closing some of them.
Something immediately noticeable when walking around Shenzhen is that there don’t seem to be many people here. Part of that is because of Chinese New Year and part is because of the virus. Chinese New Year usually takes place at the end of January or the beginning of February. I believe that this year it fell on January 25th. It’s one of the biggest holidays in China and during the vacation lots of people go back to their hometowns. This means that some big cities like Shenzhen get a lot emptier and a bunch of stuff closes for a week or two. The virus has amplified this. The official end of the holiday got pushed back to keep people from traveling which has kept some people away from the city for longer. People with the means left or are staying away longer. For example a lot of people I know are extending their vacations as long as they can. And finally most people in the city are staying inside as often as possible. All that taken together makes the city seem very empty.
Some stuff hasn’t changed all that much though. One thing I’ve been asked about by people at home is food. There is plenty of food in Shenzhen right now. There were a couple of days just after the new year holiday when vegetables and meat would sell out, but the stores still had plenty of other food. And by a couple days after the holiday there was plenty of pretty much everything at the supermarkets.
Starting today (February 9) I’ve heard that restaurants are being limited. What I’ve read is that they aren’t allowing any sit down customers anymore. You may still be able to order you food takeaway or delivery but it looks like for the time being there’s no more in store dining.
Most stuff in the city is still working as well. Lots of stores are closed but the subway and buses still seem to be running. Some areas seem to have been fenced off but as long as you can find the one entrance you can get in just fine. There doesn’t seem to be any restrictions on movement, at least put in place by the mainland Chinese government. I have read that lots of places have cancelled flights and most of the borders to Hong Kong have been closed. But within Shenzhen at least you can still mostly go where you’d like.
Edit 2/9 11:23
Some more stuff I’ve remembered. While some restaurants and cafes and stuff were open (at least until today, see above) plenty were closed. A lot closed for Chinese New Year and then didn’t reopen when they normally would, while others closed after the virus started spreading. I don’t know if they were forced to or they chose to but there were definitely less choices for eating. Even some big chains like Starbucks closed some locations. In addition China closed a lot of recreational areas. I noticed they closed down the movie theaters, because I like going to the movies, but I also heard their edict extended to theme parks and other places.
That’s what Shenzhen is like as of the posting of this blog (February 9). If anything changed 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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