#COVIDCatLady, Day 28:

4 weeks since I came back to Shanghai from Taipei. Taiwan has kept the number of cases at 44, and Shanghai is slowly returning to normal, albeit very cautiously. From the chaotic piles of boxes and handwritten notes when I first returned, today the streets of Shanghai have all kinds of official communication and signage, with designated “contactless” drop off areas for deliveries.

A new addition spotted on my neighborhood gate today? This 10-language sign stating: Personnel returning to Shanghai are kindly required to register. While many communities still don’t allow visitors and quite aggressively enforce quarantine for those returning to Shanghai, mine has been thankfully mild and reasonable. I hope I’ve done right by them by not abusing my freedom too much. Another happy sight today, With Co. Coffee, just around the corner from me (see February 11th entry, my one refuge) was packed. Ok, that coffee shop can be described as “packed” with maybe 8 people. But goddammit it was busy, and that’s a delight to witness after the quiet. Small business owners and non-salaried, part-time workers have been hit the hardest by the virus. For a city like Shanghai, and probably most of the world in the next few months, where the number of people actually infected with the virus have been mercifully low and reasonably under control, the impact have been largely economical. My 30 RMB lattes probably won’t save that little cafe, but I choose to believe that every little bit counts.

So if you must hoard, hoard local. Buy out your local coffeeshop’s beans. Clean out your local bakery’s bread. And for god’s sake order Chinese take-out. I’ve been eating literal Chinese take-out IN CHINA for a month. You’ll be FINE.

[Filed under: That did NOT age well]