There have been tons of reinfections with Omicron--everyone getting it won't end it.

I think I saw an article in NYT about COVID reinfections.

Most Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Shanghai are closed, or not accepting new guests. Called JW Marriott Tomorrow Square and got confirmation that they will allow me to check in when I am released. Then next day government issued an order to close the neighborhood, thus deny new guests.

This things change daily, and I am not worried about it until my release. I am pretty sure that I can find a hotel to stay.

At least I can continue to stay at my Q hotel. Excellent views. So-so meals but I won't be hungry.

In fact, after 14 days no more PCR tests are needed at Q hotel, unlike regular hotels.

It's only 450RMB a day, all inclusive. Normally such corner room with river view would cost 2000 RMB.

I only want to stay in Shanghai for few days to visit in-laws.

Then I'll go to a low risk area to erase my Shanghai record when Shanghai resumes some domestic flights.

I'll be a freeman after that. Plenty of places to visit in China without Q.

I think that Hangzhou is always good to visit. I also spent a summer in Yantai once, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

How long will be in in China on this trip?

Don't go to Wuhan in the summer. It's too hot! ("the oven of China")

When you go to the low risk area to erase Shanghai from your code you’ll also be put into quarantine for 14-21 days depending on the official because you’re coming from Shanghai. I think the only way out of this would be to go directly from Q hotel to another city. Then you may only have 7 days quarantine on arrival.

I believe there was a FTer in this thread who went through this on his return to Handan.

Will return to USA in early September. So I have about 3 months of free time, excluding 1 month Q.

Oh. Wouldn't that be fascinating :D

With plenty of time to kill in my Q room, I studied quarantine policy of more than 100 cities. Most of them require 14-21 days for anyone from Shanghai.

However, Chengdu only requires 7. The challenge is to find a ticket to Chengdu. As of today, there is zero flight or train from Shanghai to Chengdu. So direct route from Q hotel to PVG/SHA or train station doesn't work.

I saw an ad in WeChat offering 50K RMB to smugger me to Chengdu, and give me a clean record without any star. I figure it's probably a black car to pick me up from Q hotel and send me to nearby cities like Ningbo or Hangzhou or Wuxi, then take a flight to Chengdu. They have connections to the government and the car should have special permission to pass all sort of inspection stations on highways. They will give me a new SIM card showing 行程卡 without Shanghai record. They promise I will be a free man upon landing in Chengdu.

I feel that I would rather save 50K RMB for something else. I can use some IQ and planning to be a freeman in Chengdu after only 7 days of Q. There is no rush to get to Chengdu now.

Also, I am cautiously optimistic that situation in Shanghai will improve after my release date of May 23. There should be some flights to Chengdu by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, it's good to see the lockdown in Shanghai and to witness the history. An excellent life experience.

Yes, so excellent that I decided to leave end of April. Truly a wonderful thing to experience 😂

You know, bro, everyone has different perspectives.

I visited Shanghai in 1972 for the first time. I also attended college there. Shanghai is almost like hometown to me.

I believe that even in 1937 when the Japanese invaded and 1949 when the PLA took over, Shanghai was never locked down.

While I am not a historian, but I do appreciate the opportunity to witness history in Shanghai in 2022.

When almost every friend is against this trip, there is a sense of accomplishment for me to go. I am confident that I will have fun.

this is proper flyertalk spirit - have a good trip!

The key word is "almost". Perspective is a lot different if you're a local and not a foreigner, and your freedom to travel can be taken away.

(I'm not beating up China specifically here - Australia did this too 2020-2021)

Since when was travel a right? Most people don't seem to understand that unless they have legal reasons, such as citizenship in another country, travel is not guaranteed. In extraordinary situations, such as a global pandemic with no vaccines, I think banning people from leaving the country is even appropriate.

Leaving a country is in the ICCPR
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-pro...ng%20his%20own.

Subject to national security, public order, public health (see below), morals or the rights and freedoms of others https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments...litical-rights

Being admitted to another country is not guaranteed except when one is a citizen.

Also in HK Basic Law (Article 31 https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclaw/chapter3.html)

In my previous posts re Australia ban, I did say Australian government's position is justified on the grounds that whoever they let out, they will have to take back. CPG's restrictions can be similarly justified.

However Australian government's ability to sustain such a ban is a lot less than the CPG - for instance, Australia's ban was challenged in the courts and the court required government to continually assess the reasonability and proportionality of the ban https://www.hrlc.org.au/human-rights...id-19-pandemic .

This one:

How Often Can You Be Infected With the Coronavirus?

The spread of the Omicron variant has given scientists an unsettling answer: repeatedly, sometimes within months.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/h...infection.html

Scariest part:

I know someone who successfully left Shanghai after the 14 day quarantine in first week of May. The train route was Shanghai - Hangzhou (overnight transfer) - Nanjing (overnight transfer), from Nanjing they got on the train to Chengdu. Here are the policies as of 5/15:
Overnight train transfer allowed: Nanjing, Xi'an, Zhenzhou, Hangzhou (only people in closed loop out of international quarantine allowed)
Transfer allowed but no overnight: Changsha, Lianyungang, Wenzhou, Jinan, Quzhou
No transfer allowed at all: Ningbo, almost all of Hubei, Nanchang

I suggest looking for tickets to those cities that allow transfer and buy ticket to Chengdu separately.

Thanks for these suggestions.

Train transfer is out of question since I have lot of luggage :-)

The danger with flight transfer, is that I might get stuck at transfer city if I miss the connecting flight or it's canceled. That would be a nightmare.

I will wait a week or so in Shanghai. Hopefully more flights will resume by May 30.

I really wish you luck. Your base asumption is that "plenty of places" in China will be and remain free of covid in the months to come. Might be worth re-examining that premise.

The recent variants have popped up in Shenzhen, Shenyang, Shanghai and Beijing despite all the best efforts at containment. As they say in the securities industry, recent performance is no indicator of future performance. Maybe things will get better, but maybe things will get worse. It is not inconceivable that you will find yourself in a city where their version of lockdown allows no escape, especially the smaller cities with no international flights. Please be careful, there is a small but not neglible chance you will find yourself in a Wuhan style lockdown in a city even less prepared to deal with it.

A lot of people in China tell me that "this is it", once Shanghai is cleared everything will be fine. Of course that's what we want and everyone thought that after Wuhan, then Ruili (the border town with the Myanmar crossing), then Manzhouli, then Shenzhen, Shenyang and Shanghai. But what I see is a pattern, the big cities have a difficult time dealing with it and smaller cities do much worse. And there is no (dare I say) scientific reason to predict that Shanghai will be the last. Man, I certainly hope so, but I see no medical or sceintific reason to think it necessarily has to be the last.

We are routing for you, but be careful in your choices and be prepared to move on quickly. Your strategy is to outrun the virus and lockdowns, quarantine and travel restrictions as they get imposed. But you know very well how that can happen with little or no warning. So I wish you safe and healthy travels, and also lots of luck! Keep us posted!

Sorry to have to capture this. I think this is a very deliberate slip of the tongue (or keyboard).

In fact there may be a certain logic for choosing to remain in Shanghai. If restaurants, etc. are open and movement is free, Shanghai could be enjoyable and you don't have to take any risks traveling.

Shanghai without crowds of foreign tourists and with light traffic could indeed be very pleasant.

That's a VERY big "If" though.

Friend of my partner is an MD in Beijing. Apparently they just went into lockdown today, RIP. They were supposed to meet at a medical conference in Scotland with them next week.. guess that's not happening anymore, they're not allowed to leave.

Should we create a new thread for "Current China Exit Policy"? This seems to also be an issue nowadays:

Final update at Shanghai Q hotel.

I am scheduled to be released at 5:30pm (arrival time of UA 857 at PVG) on May 23, after 14 days of Q.

Called 22 Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Shanghai that allow new bookings at Marriott app. To my surprise, NONE is accepting new guests. Why on the earth Marriott.com allows me to book? Marriott Ambassador service contacted the hotels on my behalf, to no avail. I actually booked JW Marriott Tomorrow Square, and they actually upgraded me to an executive suite. It seems comical that I won't be allowed to check in.

I figure that other hotels like Hilton etc. would do the same. I can continue to stay at Q hotel, but that does not seem appealing. So I decided to get out of Shanghai.

Unfortunately, there is nearly zero flight out of Shanghai, at least until May 28. Even that is not guaranteed. I don't want to arrive at the airport and find my flight canceled. Then I'll have to sleep on the terminal floor. So travel by air is off the table.

Almost all cities require additional 14 days Q for people from Shanghai, with an exception: Hangzhou. The local government announced on May 20 that folks from Shanghai only need to be quarantined for 7 days plus self monitoring for another 7 and number of PCR tests. So after 7 days in Hangzhou, I will be a free man. Yay!

Buying train tickets is no easy job since there are only a few trains still running. I used 12306 app, worked hard to check tickets once every 10 min. Finally I managed to grab a business class ticket to Hangzhou. There is no train after 5:30pm so I'll stay at Q hotel for an extra day, and take the train to Hangzhou on May 24.

There is very limited public transportation, and people walked 10-20 miles to the train station. My friend agrees to send a private car with Special COVID Permit to pick me up and drop me off at Hongqiao Railway Station.



https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b6c3a457f9.jpg


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Some pictures of food at Q hotel. This is expected. Many people in Shanghai fare worse than me. So I am not complaining.

I can also order some extra food too.

Look forward to my journey to Hangzhou, and final 7 days of Q before freedom. Will update that later.

Same can be said for European Hotel Rooms not having the smell of instant noodles..;)

Will you be able to leave the hotel after 5:30pm on 5/23?

yes, but no hotel would accept me. if I get out of my Q hotel, I can't return.

So, I'll stay at my prison for another night. ;)

Heard from my expat friends in Shanghai last night. Day 66 of quarantine but they were allowed passes that permitted one person per household 7 hours to roam around Huacao. Her photos show how devastatingly quiet the city is.

There are pictures circulating on weixin of people sleeping under the overpasses at Hongqiao Rail Station, they cannot get hotels or tickets to another city.

Best to stay where you are; IMO. Better to be in a known place, than face the unknown.
Marriott hotels accepting +7 guests were already difficult to find back in February this year....I can only imagine how much more difficult it is now.

Good luck!

Thank you so much. Appreciated.

Oh, I don't worry about any of the lockdowns. One, I avoid major cities like Beijing Shanghai Shenzhen etc. Too frequently positive cases occur. Two, I don't expect to leave China earlier than I planed. I hold a ticket PVG-SFO-EWR on September 4 and fully expect that I'll fly that ticket. I prefer small cities so lack of international flights to escape is not relevant to me.

One most important factor: connections, connections. I have connections in almost every city I plan to visit. I am confident that I will be taken good care of. For example, my trip from Q hotel to HQ railway station tomorrow: I have a courtesy car with government permit and a driver. My Q hotel in Shanghai is perhaps the best among all Q hotels.

I have a list of a dozen places for this trip: Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Guiyang, Nanjing, Changzhou, Fuzhou, Changsha, Wuhan. Will stay a week in each city. If any city has a star (meaning: middle level COVID), I will not travel there. I will be alert and ready to move quickly to another place if my current city has reported a single case.

I love challenge and am confident that I will outrun the virus and lockdowns. Almost everyone suggested that I abandon this trip, but so far I am enjoying it.

My final 7 days of Q will be in Hangzhou. I should get a very nice Q hotel and lot of care from my friends there. Already I have received multiple invitations for lavish dinners after my release on May 31. :-)

Will report back.

Thank you!

Well, so far I have encountered no difficulty other than some crappy Q hotel food.

When you have friends everywhere you go, you have no worry. I look forward to finishing my next Q period, which is shortest among all Chinese cities for folks from Shanghai.

I think this got missed and I kept forgetting about it.

Notice for China-bound Passengers (Updated May 17, 2022)_Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America

Specifically you don't have to do the pre-departure PCR or IgM 7 days before boarding or self isolate for 7 days. Only need 2x PCR 48hr before travel.
Same thing was announced for Canada and UK

??????????????????????
Notice on new requirements before boarding

A move in the right direction. A real game changer would be removal of flight capacity limits (i.e., reinstate LAX-PVG) as well as softening quarantine requirements of course.

Quarantine rules have already been loosened I think. I'm not 100% sure, but I think most locations are 10+7 for foreign arrivals. Beijing is 7+7 as of last few days.

It is even better for SFO departures, only need 2x PCR 24 hours before travel plus antigen test.

Notice on Application of Health Code for China-bound Passengers (Updated May 20, 2022)

Can do all three tests in the same lab visit.

Hong Kong was sort of like that in Q1 2020. I went there twice and I can't recall a time when TST had that few people. I actually had elbow room!

So they've literally finally taken the exit road to "living with covid", but won't admit it.

Well, I can life with that.. guess they finally realized killing the (global) economy from a mutated virus that's now no longer that dangerous isn't worth it.. hope it gets relaxed even more soon..

How have they taken this exit? To me it seems they are still driving straight over the zero Covid cliff.

Yeah, Beijing -for instance- is tightening up and locking more parts down; the loosening of these entry requirements & the easing of pre-departure testing seems to come at an odd time, IMO.