As China's coronavirus outbreak eases, a wary return to shops for consumers

[dalton99a]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-retail/as-chinas-coronavirus-outbreak-eases-a-wary-return-to-shops-for-consumers-idUSKBN21447W

March 17, 2020
As China's coronavirus outbreak eases, a wary return to shops for consumers
Winni Zhou, Brenda Goh

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - As shops shut their doors across Europe and the United States, in China the sharp drop in new coronavirus cases has encouraged consumers to venture back into malls and restaurants - for the most part quite gingerly but occasionally in throngs.

Helping consumers return has been a loosening of quarantine and other restrictions on business and social activity. Restaurants that have satisfied authorities with plans for curbing the risk of infection are now allowed to serve groups of diners and most stores have reopened, though big brands like IKEA and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) have restrictions on crowds.

After being mostly cooped up at home for weeks, Chen Jiayi, a 21-year-old college student in Shanghai, said it was like coming up for air when she went out on Saturday to buy coffee and cake.

“There were quite a lot of people in the city centre, it was a completely different picture from the end of February. There were even queues at the bubble tea and biscuit shops,” she said.

The epidemic, which has infected more than 800,000 in China and killed over 3,200, had kept hundreds of millions stuck at home since late January. Retail sales for the world’s second-largest economy shrank by a fifth in the first two months of 2020 from a year earlier.

But new cases have dropped sharply of late. The number of daily new cases for mainland China fell below 100 for the first time on March 6 and daily totals this week have been around 20 or less, almost all involving travelers from abroad.

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(80,000 is their official number of cases, not 800,000)

[EarthFirst]

1. This could be us...

However we’re stalling terribly.

[at140]

2. We should learn from what China did to reduce infections

and quarantine a whole bunch of cities.

[dalton99a]

6. They closed the temporary hospitals in Wuhan several days ago - evidently no more patients

they either died or were discharged

[at140]

7. It also means new infections are dwindling..nt

[customerserviceguy]

3. We'll see if this is the start

of a second wave of infections. The Spanish flu had three such waves.

[Blue_true]

11. You touched on my concern.

Let's see what happens as China reopens it's society.

[3Hotdogs]

4. So they are venturing into open space.

They may become a new group of hosts for the virus.

[Roland99]

5. A second canary in the coal mine?

[Azathoth]

8. I feel bad for China. They stopped it, but they're gonna catch it anyway

The rest of the world is going to hand it right back to them.

[dalton99a]

9. They're forcing all international travelers into quarantine:

Hong Kong (CNN) Beijing has announced it will enforce a 14-day quarantine on all international travelers arriving in the Chinese capital, as the number of novel coronavirus cases outside Asia continues to rise.

Authorities in Beijing will now require all passengers arriving in the capital from overseas to self-quarantine, either at home or in a designated facility, for two complete weeks.

International business travelers, meanwhile, will be required to stay at a select number of designated hotels in Beijing, where they will be tested for the virus. They will not be permitted to leave until their test results have been returned.

The city has cordoned off a whole wing of Terminal 3 at its massive Capital International Airport, using the area to screen and register all international arrivals. The authorities have also set up a transportation hub at an exhibition center near the airport, deploying a dedicated fleet of cars to drive arriving passengers to their homes or designated facilities for medical observation.

[Azathoth]

10. That can't last any more than our travel bans can

and the virus is going to return via land and water as well. In a few months, airports will be largely symbolic.

Until there's a vaccine, everyone is gonna get this. Including China.