Greetings family, friends and visitors! I hope this message finds you all well, I have been getting some messages from people back in the USA and around China about the current pandemic status in Guangzhou. Just to give some background for those back home in the USA that do not know where Guangzhou is or think that we are close to Shanghai, I have included a picture of China and circled the city that we live in currently. Guangzhou is the capital city in the province (like a state) of Guangdong, which is about an hour train ride or ferry ride to Hong Kong. So if we were to fly to Shanghai, I think it would probably be a 2-3 hour flight or more. I am not really sure, I just know where we used to live in Dalian, it was about a 5-6 hour flight back to Guangzhou. Anyway, let’s get to the real update.
Well, the last few weeks have been a little difficult, but mostly not that bad. COVID-19 has not become a major problem in Guangzhou, but it is becoming more of a problem. I think the officials of Guangzhou are wanting to prevent an incident similar to what is going on in Shanghai. Shanghai is the most populated city in the country, with Beijing being number two and Guangzhou being the third most populated city in China with an estimated of 19 million residents (According to a recent CNA News report). That being said… a majority of businesses have been operating normally with relatively no problem going about. Our local church has been closed now for a MONTH on the other hand which has been extremely difficult for us… We have been following Island ECC (an English church based in HK) for church on Sundays, but it has been very difficult not being able to meet with our brothers and sisters in Christ and participating in the Body of Christ. Especially while, until recently, EVERYTHING else has been opened and little to no restrictions… I’m sure you all already know my thoughts on the issue.
Last week, all of the residents in Guangzhou were supposed to start getting a COVID test every couple of days… We were beginning to get a little worried of the situation and decided to keep Noah home from his kindergarten and we stocked up on a lot of food just in case. As of Sunday afternoon, when all of the students were coming back to the school, we were told that the campus would be partially on lockdown. All of the students then had to return home and now we are doing courses online… **Key Point** A lot of middle schools and high schools in China are actually boarding schools, even public schools. I decided to take a video of the current situation that has become a very common occurrence in our district for the past two weeks. This video was taken just a couple of days ago.
While we are overall doing relatively well in Guangzhou, the real situation is that you never know what is going to happen. The local government has “assured” people that these measures are only in place for a week, but everything in China is subject to change rather fast. That being said, there have been relatively low cases of Omicron in the city.
Here is a recent news report that I saw on YouTube. It is somewhat difficult for me to hear about what is going on COVID wise in Guangzhou. I often follow news outlets from Singapore or Hong Kong these days to see what they are saying and more often than not, I rely on locals to help keep us up to date on what is happening in the area.
In closing, I thought it would be interesting to show you how China is trying to limit the COVID transmission rate. If you are interested in hearing my perspective, please message me privately, I don’t wish to share my opinions here. Anyway, here in Guangzhou, if we want to get on the bus, metro, go into a mall or even eat at a restaurant, we need to show at least one of these codes… One shows that we have been vaccination and the other shows if we have been in recent contact with anyone who might have COVID. Everyone needs to carry around a smartphone with internet to show these health codes (health passports). If you are wondering how they check people without smartphones (like the elderly for example), they need to scan their ID cards which logs their health code information.
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