Quarantine day 2

My first post and a bit of a rant I fear. Sorry if this offends anyone. If you disagree I can only say I write from the point of view of someone whose life was affected by the virus from the beginning. I hope I’m wrong about some of this.

Day 2 of quarantine began pretty early for me. I went to bed with jetlag about 8pm and ended up waking up around midnight. I tried several times to get back to sleep but too much on my mind. Somehow running on 4 hours of sleep but surviving.

Today we’ve been kept pretty busy with streaming and catching up on work. We have also been pleasantly surprised at how Hector is coping. He has been content to play and hasn’t asked to go out yet. Although after typing this I did notice that Tom’s shoes had appeared! His time in Canada seems to have mellowed him somewhat! This is all good when we are trying to work and look after him at the same time.

But the main reason I decided to write this blog today was to put down my thoughts about the virus. We managed to avoid quarantine until this week. Yes quarantine is hard and rather extreme but I also support it. China actually has the virus under control which is something many media outlets seem to prefer to ignore. I actually read an article in the guardian today citing examples of successful lockdowns and missing out China. I know many expats who feel safe here and did even during the worst time. I feel safer here than I did in Canada. But for some reason China is constantly held to a standard that noone else is. They are widely suspected of having inaccurate numbers. But so does the US due to a lack of testing kits. So does the UK as they are no longer recording minor cases and they don’t even test some people with symptoms as they have no relevant travel history! The US bans those with Chinese passports not those who have been in China within 14 days. Right now China is our home and all of this is hurtful. The measures may be authoritarian but they have done more than many countries to protect their workers. Including protecting full pay during the lockdown.

Which brings me to my country. I am scared for my family and friends right now. I realise that shutting schools has a cost. One that was easier to deal with in China due to the bigger role played by grandparents in childcare. But all other countries seem to find a way to deal with this. I do not think it’s possible to slow the spread of the virus without shutting the schools down. The plan to only isolate the elderly and vulnerable seems to be very misguided. It will not stop the spread of the virus but Boris seems willing to let many die. Even those who would have survived will not if the number of infected gets too high. Wuhan knows this. Italy knows this. Boris thinks he knows better. Even if social distancing is introduced how can people survive on sick pay or nothing in the case of the self-employed? This will lead to many not following official advice as they have a family to support. Not to mention that only isolating if you are sick ignores the fact that you can be infectious without symptoms.

I am thinking of you all in the UK. Stay strong, wash your hands correctly for 20 seconds and don’t go out if you can avoid it.