Tell HN: China Is Entering Lockdown

Over the past two years there's been smaller regional outbreaks here and there, but they were quickly contained. This current outbreak started about a month ago with cases slowly starting to tick up. About two weeks ago it became clear to me that we would soon be entering lockdown as the omicron cases won't stop increasing, imported as well as local. Last Friday there were about a 1000 new daily cases nationally, higher than at the peak in 2020. Since there is no clear change in policy, and already a lot is being done, there is no reason to believe that infections won't keep increasing exponentially. Today, Sunday, daily new cases reached 2000-3000.

Schools, gym, parks, and most other public venues have closed. Education is being done online, and also adult education is shut down if it is offline.

WFH is pretty much non-existant in China, even after 2020, but from next week we'll work from home as will many offices.

When ordering on Meituan, some select goods are out of stock at some stores , like tomatoes, minced meat. Still, you can get it if you just search it from another store. My neighborhood seems perfectly normal and the supermarket has lots of stock though some beef is sold out. Several supermarkets on Meituan are closed but there's lots still open. I've got food for two months so no issues.

Still, I see this as a good thing because: (1) Hopefully WFH gains acceptance and becomes normalized (2) A new policy will emerge as it is already clear that you can't quarantine and hospitalize people for omicron when it is not dangerous. In fact what I'm worried about is having to be in quarantine hospital or hotel, that's it. There are officials talking about ending the 0-policy but no clear solution yet.

I expect this to last 3 months.

Edit: I'm in Shanghai. Types of lockdown vary between cities and even districts and sub-districts. Here, you may get to stay at home for two days if you're a second degree contact; but if you didn't wear a mask it'll be 14 days. If you're a first degree contact it's quarantine hotel for 14. If you're infected I believe you go to a hospital. In Shenzhen, some communities that are under lockdown are not able to order groceries but only get the type of hotel/airplane food you get in quarantine. So I definitely want to have proper food, which is why I'll WFH for a long time, so as to not come into first or something cond degree contact.

Beijing isn't that bad yet, but no express mailing. The youngest can't go to kindergarten as a classmate had a close contact with a positive case. We all tested negative.

It's not bad here yet either. Stuff is closed down but you can still take the subway. Theres probably a hundred communities shut down city wide but that's likely just a fraction of a percent of all communities. But, the number of cases do not stop increasing, so lockdown will certainly come in the next few weeks.

Most likely, but even among districts the actions they take are different. Our old neighborhood (in Chaoyang) has benn closed multiple times. Here in Dongcheng we have only seen that in 2020 during February till April, though 'lockdown' and no classes had been till the new semester in September. We will see what happens. Anyways, best of luck. Stock up on food and work from home. Luckily for n our family we can easily.

I probably chose the wrong time to take time off, and travel to SEA for three weeks. Halfway expecting to land there and spend the next few months in lockdown. Wonder how HR will take it.