YariGuy

To add to this rumor, I heard there might be an intermediate step sometime in December of 3+3.

moondog

If the 0+3 rumor pans out, you might want to postpone your return until it kicks in. I'm pretty sure you would dislike even 3 days in a q hotel.

YariGuy

My thoughts exactly. Right now I'm scheduled for 12/30 so will be paying close attention.

narvik

I'm in final count-down mode now....10 more days....and I am outta here!

Just let two in the office work from home as of tomorrow, as they were traveling to work by bus.
Really feel terrible for what's about to happen here, and somewhat guilty for leaving everyone behind...

travelinmanS

You�re excited to leave because they are ending zero Covid? I don�t understand. What do you feel terrible about? The end of lockdowns or the end of testing?

Kmxu

Please stay! Share the burden with your comrades in Shanghai as zero COVID becomes COVID everywhere.

plunet

There is liltle doubt that it will get worse before it gets better, but hopefully it doesn't result in a meltdown and too many lives being lost.

boat stuck

Maybe they've been stuck in China and need to get the bivalent BioNTech or Moderna mRNA booster in their home country.

I don't think there's any bivalent or Omicron specific vaccine available in China yet, but Cansino is pretty close with an Ad5 Omicron vaccine (better than inactivated).

narvik

I was always going to go home before Christmas, and yes, excited to be back home for the holidays.
Feel bad for leaving all co-workers behind during these unsettling times!

travelinmanS

My coworkers must be different from yours. They are all fired up for the ending of all the restrictions which they grew incredibly tired of over the past year.

narvik

Yeah, I bet there's quite extreme differences in attitudes across China and across regions, even within cities.
We've been pretty isolated where we are, despite still being in Beijing. I am not surprised that attitudes and experiences around here are not the same as in others areas.

percysmith

Ok, now I�m starting to believe it:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...d=premium-asia

Govt underreporting figures and Beijing looking like HK fifth wave.

moondog

Apart from "fewer tests ---> fewer positives", how are they underreporting?

narvik

We went from daily tests to no tests at all. The reported ~1000 cases/day are actually more like 300'000/day.

GinFizz

Indeed - the phrase "under-reporting" is too loaded with meaning. It's much more the case at the moment they simply DHAFC (the first part of that abbreviation is "don't have a" and the last is "clue" - you can fill in the F as you wish). My wife went out earlier today and none of the local testing stations were operating. More than 10% of my wife's team at work have had a fever over the last few days, but less than half of those have been able to get an antigen-test (those that could all tested positive - not that it really matters either way).

I am honestly surprised you still had any doubts.

I think we are all tired of the madness of the last couple of years, but I share Narvik's foreboding. Despite all the new messaging about the mild nature of the virus (which of course is true - don't misunderstand my point here), the fact is that we are now in this situation at the start of winter and still with far from ideal 3-dose vaccination numbers for the elderly, and this should be seen (and I suspect eventually will) as a failure. I genuinely hope though that I am wrong, and somehow China can pull off this exit from their previous stance without suffering similar results as seen in Hong Kong earlier this year. As an aside a current joke doing the circuits here is that the opinions of Chinese epidemiological experts mutate faster than the virus.

The next couple of months are going to be unpleasant I feel in many regards, though we have the fact that on the other side, sometime early in 2023 we can all look forward to rejoining the globe again.