Originally Posted by
joesk
Approximately one week out, Jan 3 for return via PVG on DL, if the flights operate. Crew sick outs/flight operations obliterated the schedule from the US, Dec 19-28. I hope that this week flights start operations again, looks like Dec 30/SEA and 31/DTW might go. So far spouse is requesting a quarantine hotel stay through work/industry contacts. His final destination after quarantine is Beijing, he's hotel operations, I'm former airline staff. Happy to hear any recommendations and advise from FT folks on the forum or by msg. Much appreciated and Thank you
Ok a few more points for those doing quarantine in ShangHai:
End of 2-week Quarantine:
I was let out exactly at the same hour as my arrival on the 15th day - so it was 14 x 24-hour periods. When you are let out you are literally dumped on the street - I called a taxi to take me to my observation hotel. DiDi does not let your register directly with them, but there is a way to order a DiDi through AliPay. You can also order other taxi services through AliPay, but DiDi seems to be the smoothest, although they seem to require a local card, while you can pay for others with an international card tied to your AliPay account.
You really want to make sure you
have a working local phone by the end of quarantine. Nihao mobile must be making a lot of money right now (you can order a SIM card to your quarantine hotel through them). Keep your proof of quarantine form safe - you'll need it for the next few weeks. If this is your first time in China or you haven't been here for a decade or longer, be prepared to re-learn how to do basic things, and what apps are needed for what.
Third Week of Observation (Shanghai)
Not all hotels in Shanghai allow you to check in for the third week of observation. There's no easy way to check. I ended up at the JinJiang tower hotel. The hotel contracts with a doctor, who I never saw in person. I had to report my temp 2x / day and then go do 2 NAT tests.
IMPORTANT - NAT tests during 3rd week: When they send you to the community center to do the NAT test in your third week, make sure you register for it through wechat. If you don't - you'll need to get the paper printout the next day, the results won't automatically be uploaded to the cloud, and your local health code won't turn green at the end of the week without manual intervention. It's not a straight forward process to do it (you do it on the spot), but it will save you more headaches down the line.
The lo
cal ShangHai health code was doing weird things. First it was green during quarantine, then red, then green again when they let me out. It then turned yellow the day after and stayed yellow throughout the rest of my stay there. When I boarded the plane to PEK,
Technically, you're not supposed to leave your place of stay with a yellow code, unless you have a good reason to, but in practice nobody checks, except in a few shopping centers - avoid those.
Flying to Beijing:
The
Beijing HealthKit [do a search in English in WeChat or AliPay - the English version works for foreign passports] (which you need to fly to PEK) will display an error message for 21 days, and then will magically turn on, showing "no unusual conditions" / green on day 22. Don't plan on flying until day 22 after your arrival.
You will do your last NAT test on Day 21 in the morning. If you don't want to do another test to fly to PEK, make sure your flight takeoff is within 48 hours of your last test - so if you do your NAT test at 8AM on day 21, get the earlier flights to PEK from SHA. You will need a green local heath code to enter the airport. In my case, I got away with showing a screenshot of the local green health code.
Your NAT, the arrow app (showing where you've been in the last 2 weeks) and Beijing healthkit will be checked at check/in while going through security/at the gate.
One more tip -
take screenshots of everything, including all QR codes, and the green health codes - when they become green. You never know when then will want to glance at the green health code
