Something almost unthinkable has happened in China: a return to normal, from morning tai chi at the Beijing Temple of the Sun, to lunch in the central business district and a sunset recreation house on The Avenue of Eternal Peace.
President Mao Zedong is observing Tiananmen Square and a country in a “new post-COVID normality. “
It is difficult for China’s cities, with millions of inhabitants, to look like ghost towns before this year. In January, CBS News was the first U. S. network in Wuhan, where the pandemic began. The government retaliated forcefully and speed, forcing up to 50 million more people to be locked up for two months; Build new hospitals in less than two weeks by welding some families into their homes testing and touching the search, temporarily descending from new outbreaks; Adopt a fitness QR code formula on smartphones that prohibits almost all foreigners from entering the country; and put everyone allowed to return (including correspondent Ramy Innocent) quarantined for 14 days in a government-appointed hotel, all thanks to an added authoritarian government and SARS reminiscences in 2003.
When COVID peaked in February, Shanghai and the city’s historic Bund were eerily quiet.
The masses are back and maximum mask not.
The sheer normality of this is strange, he said innocence, as if COVID had never happened.
In a country of 1. 4 billion people, fewer than 5,000 are reported to have officially killed more than 210,000 (and more) in the United States.
Critics in China say their record is too low to be true, only for a country where bad news is occasionally hidden.
Last week, President Trump clearly reminded the United States where COVID started: “It is China’s fault, and China will pay dearly for what it has done to that country,” he said.
Roark Jones, from Georgia, is a sophomore on the campus of New York University in Shanghai. Equipped with a mandatory mask, a flash of a fitness code and a temperature control, it attends its classes. While most foreign academics fled, Jones stayed.
“In February, I was essentially in my bedroom the whole time,” Jones said. “And then in April, things were pretty open. Now other people don’t even wear masks outside. The pandemic is practically non-existent here.
Now, “mixed modality” courses, from statistics to fashion dance, are a new standard: some academics physically in the room, some virtually. Nobody makes a fuss.
Jones said: “Everyone in China is very willing to comply with any established policy to involve the disease. One thing that encouraged me all in quarantine. “
And the result: he’s back and lively, as in China’s first Shake Shack, where Joyce Du is a proud CEO.
Innocent asked, “When was this Shake Shack for coronavirus?”
“Near?” she answered. “We’re closing. “
“Have you closed?”
“Never. We paint every day and at all times.
“What do you think is the maximum prevention measure you need to percentageize with American restaurants?”
“Put on the mask!” Smile.
As life progresses, so does the exhibition in Hangzhou, 100 km to the west, home to the cirque du Soleil exhibition in operation, out of 44 in the world. Half the artists are Chinese. The other part is international, from the United States, Canada, Russia, Australia and France.
The acrobats have been dancing, spinning and flying towards a masked man since June.
Innocent Yvonne Yuen, technical director of the program, “Has there ever been a coronavirus incident?”
“Not with the audience, not with our staff, ” replied Yuen. “So we were very lucky. I would say that China is one of the safest places right now, in terms of the world, in terms of COVID’s situation. “
NYU Roark Jones agrees: “If I went back to the United States now, to be honest, I’d be a little nervous.
And he’d have a hard time coming back. China helps keep its borders closed to the maximum number of foreigners to prevent the coronavirus from entering. In a country full of more than 3,000 years of history, Chinese leaders intend to last at least another 3,000 years.
History produced through Warren Serink. Editorial: Randy Schmidt.