DocMartin817

no forced quarantine -- just handed me a card suggesting I self-quarantine for 14 days

I arrived safely back in the USA. On the China end, security was in place and lots of forms to fill out and temp checks. I flew China Southern to LA -- there it was easy and fast to go through customs. The United terminal had few people. I spent the night at the terminal and was the only one there at night except the cleaning crew. Around 4AM a few people stated to show up -- but still not a lot. My flight to San Francisco was less than half full. But San Francisco was pretty crowded. Lots of people, all wearing masks. They maintained social distance when in line to buy food. But a bar was open at the terminal and lots of people there -- many not wearing masks. I avoided that area. But all in all the flights went smoothly. But I did see in La that the Hong Kong flight was cancelled. I am somewhat skeptical about flying internationally from China on an American flight. They seem to say they have a flight and then cancel. It happened to me on United -- cancelling with short notice. And then they cancelled the Hong Kong flight -- I heard American pilots do not want to fly there because they will be put in quarantine for 14 days before they can fly back.

I am flying back tomorrow and will let you know how it goes. My first flight from Shanghai to San Francisco which I scheduled on the 15th with United was suddenly cancelled with no other United flights available. Now I am flying China Southern to LA then United to San Francisco and then on to Eugene OR where I will self-quarantine. I arrive in LA at 9:30 PM and will just stay in the airport until my morning flights. My layover in San Francisco is short. Good luck on your wife's flight but have some other airline back ups in mind too.

Now the flight war seems to be off again. So China will start to allow some US flights and US will continue to allow some Chinese airlines to fly. The whole picture is still pretty murky, but looks like things may straighten out in July. Hopefully before my passport expires. The good news is Beijing is now allowing people who fly in from Wuhan to not have to be quarantined for 14 days. So the restrictions are gradually coming down.

yes it is all over the news -- Stopping China flights June 16th -- I was hoping to leave on China Southern in late June so that plan is now gone. I will also now need to renew my visa and my passport expires in late July. So I am exploring options now. I actually can understand China's reluctance to let US planes fly here now. In Wuhan restrictions are being lifted systematically. And over 9 million people were tested, including Liwen and myself. My five week trip to visit her family is turning into a pretty long adventure. But we are healthy and doing fine and am getting the best birdwatching here that I have ever had. Lots of life birds!

It is the last day of the May holiday today and things in Wuhan are really opening up. We were lucky that Liwen's brother and sister-in-law got a much deserved break and were able to come back to their apartment. We all went to different birding spots in the city -- we are still restricted from leaving Wuhan. And the town was alive with open businesses, many restaurants with outdoor seating were crowded and many of the parks were jammed with people picnicking and relaxing. People are still wearing masks -- not all but most. And we have our temperature taken when we leave and enter the apartment complex. But things are slowly normalizing here.

I am interested in this too. I know they were quarantining people coming back from Wuhan in the beginning but I have heard reports that now they are letting all people just self-quarantine. Is this true? Since we are still stuck in Wuhan and don't know when international air travel will be resumed to San Francisco from China, we are hoping that we will not be quarantined at some military base on our arrival. I don't imagine we will get out of here until mid to late May.

I usually get my sim card shortly after I arrive. But this year was different. The QR stamp will not work -- found out Liwen's phone that she is using is registered to her brother -- he just lent it to her. But we have a workaround as soon as they open up at our compound. Liwen's sister in law's sister lives with her sister-in-law at the next compound. She will drive us anywhere we want to go in the city. Actually better than the bus or subway! Still am worried that once we open up on April 8th we will see a resurgence of coronavirus. I hope not but best guess is yes. But all is well here -- we are all healthy and in good spirits. Our compound is gated with at least 5 "volunteer" guards checking everyone in or out. There is a stay at home order strictly enforced for all of Wuhan. But now people with green card permits are starting to go back to work. I can see the front gate from our 16th floor apartment and lots of cars now leaving every morning. Hopefully we will be able to go shopping soon -- but the word is the local grocery stores are still closed.

Thanks for all the information -- so I downloaded alipay. Tried to sign up but they asked for my Chinese phone number --- well now I have to try and see if Liwen can sign up on her Chinese phone, go out, and then find a store open near here that sells sim cards. I know where one is but so many stores were closed who knows what is open now. Will keep you informed on the progress. We are still not allowed out yet but when we are, will see what we can do.

Not only are masked still required but the old style mask is not acceptable. I had one on that I guess was not up to code and the guard at the front gate told me that one is no good and get a different one. Luckily we have supply of masks a the apartment so I was able to throw that one away and get one the fit the face tighter.

Now that we see the end is near for the quarantine in Wuhan, things are starting to loosen up. We are still completely locked down but I see many many more cars leaving our compound now. Some of the buses are supposed to be starting up today too. But the grocery stores around us are still closed but I hear some of the bigger ones closer to the center of town are opening. Now I see on the news last night (channel 79 has English) that you need to have a green QR code to get on the buses. And residents can get a QR code through Alibiba I think. But there is no mention of us stuck here with a tourist visa who are not residents. Is there any way we can get a QR code? Also since we went into lockdown the night we got here, I never had time to get a Chinese sim card for my iPhone. So I don't have a phone that works outside of the range of the apartment. Any advice on what we can do? Any help would be appreciated Marty

I don't know how you can get masks there -- back in the USA -- since I am still stuck in Wuhan with Liwen. We have to wear masks every time we go outside. Everyone does. I do not like masks -- but I wear one because if I don't I will be told to put one on. I know they are not effective in stopping the virus. They do stop the spread from the person who may have the virus though. Then I read one good reason for wearing a mask. If only people who have the virus wear masks, they would be shunned -- like wearing a sign -- I have the coronavirus! And people who may have the coronavirus would not wear them so as not to be stigmatized. But if everyone wears them, then it is okay for the person who thinks they may have the virus to wear it too. So why not take the effort to wear a mask then? By the way, we are still completely quarantined in Wuhan. I keep hearing rumors that we will soon be able to leave the apartment complex once every three days to go grocery shopping -- but so far that is all they are -- just rumors. I cannot emphasize enough to keep your social distance. Learn from Wuhan -- we now have had 5 days without one new case of coronavirus being reported. We had two people who had to go back to the hospital who were previously released and one reported case was not the virus. But we have survived the first wave -- and hopefully can stop the second wave when the people who left Wuhan are allowed back in and people once again can ride buses and walk the city. So please take care.

We are stuck here too in Wuhan. Luckily my business is 95% online and I have a good project coordinator back home -- so we are doing okay. Almost all my bills I can pay online. Worried that my grass is going to get too hight back home soon. Will try and get someone to mow it. Our apartment compound is still on complete quarantine. But no shortages of food. Wine supply is low and the one guy who delivers to us only has rot gut cheap Chinese wines. Oh well it that is the most of my problems, then I am doing okay.

Well 85% of the Starbucks are open and the 15% closed are all probably in Wuhan. Since I can not yet leave the apartment compound, I cannot get to the nearest Starbucks anyway. And I still am not sure where the closest one is. I know the one that is downtown but that is not in walking distance. I will have to do some detective work to try and figure our where the nearest Starbucks is. Eagerly waiting to be free to roam again. Interesting that living in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak my main worry is -- when will Starbucks open and where is the nearest one? Things overall are very livable here for now.

And I am in the sacrificed province. But despite some of the negative reports about how some of the citizens of Wuhan are responding, in our part of town all is pretty quiet and people are staying inside except to go to the front gate to get ordered groceries and packages. Delivery services are still working and people here are not wanting for food or basics. I am almost out of the coffee I brought with me and no Starbucks in sight. We are still completely quarantined in our apartment complex here in Wuhan. I bend the rules a little and walk 2 times a day around the apartment compound perimeter looking for birds. I did bring my binoculars with me but of course our planned birding trips were cancelled. But we are all healthy here (me, Liwen, and her parents) and in good spirits

That is good news -- our visas were sent to expire on April 21st and Liwen was worried about what we could do about it because so far no loosing of the quarantine. I have good Internet connection and can do 95% of my work here. Will have to file for a tax extension and hire someone to mow our yard in late April. I alway mow it myself -- big yard. Just wish we could leave our apartment compound and visit nearby Nature park to do some birding

Air is much cleaner here in Wuhan -- well no factories and few cars on the road -- quick solution to air pollution

Well that is old news. It is now changed here in Wuhan. No going out at all. All supplies are ordered online and delivered to the front gate where you go and pick up your groceries. Liwen and I just did that yesterday.Our apartment complex is completely closed with a at least 5 government officials at the gates to let out some people in cars - I imagine they have permission to go to work. Maybe they work for the government -- don't know. But everything here is very quiet with no one going outside except to take the garbage downstairs to the garbage bins and to get ordered supplies. The lines are not long and no one stands close to others. Our timing to visit family was such that the day we arrived they declared a city aide quarantine with no trains, planes, or buses. They are now saying that they will soon be letting some of the people who left before the quarantine back into the city. We will see how that goes

Thanks for the site with all the statistics. We are stuck here in Wuhan for the foreseeable future so it is good to get current information

Good video. We are in wuhan now visiting Liwen's family. We arrived the evening they quarantined the city. Trips and family gatherings have been cancelled. Will be a low key New Year. When we go out everyone wears a mask. No buses, subway, trains, or planes. Still taxis are running. We went shopping -- very crowded -- people buying meat, fruit, and vegetables. They say hospitals are crowded with people wanting to be tested. Lots of people think they are infected but not. Interesting in my home town of Eugene Oregon four people went to the hospital saying they had the virus -- of course they did not. Same thing here in Wuhan -- some people are hypochondriacs and will sneeze and think have the virus. We will go to the nearby nature park today to do some birding. My VPNs are working fine. I am using Astrill for my MacBook but my phone an iPad did not connect well so I went back to ExpressVPN which is working great.

We send money every year -- but we only send once a year and pay one fee -- We just use our local bank that does a wire to wire transfer and pay a fee of $45. You need the information of who you are sending to and bank numbers too.

I will be flying to China for the New Year celebrations -- wife is already there. Is there anyway I can watch the super bowl online while I am there?

Thanks Randy, I think I will try NordVPN this time

I will be going back to China for spring festival in February. I have used Express VPN in the past with no problem but I seem to remember there were some discussions about it not being as reliable as Nord VPN as of late. Any updates on which one now works best? Marty

The natural beauty of parts of the USA is absolutely breathtaking too. We have an abundance of spectacular places-- many times very close to your own backyard.