The new rules and policies for Covid-19 have become routine now. Students and teachers have settled in. Now that the high school and middle school have it under control, grades 4-5 started at the elementary school last week and the lower grades start this week. Preschool and kindergarten have not started.
We received an email about a situation over the weekend. Here is what we were told:
- No cause for alarm.
- Note: We all live far from school and are bussed. There are 4 bus routes.
- On one route, the teachers and staff were left off on Thursday afternoon.
- The driver then took non school people to the airport.
- One of the people tested positive after they made it to their home city.
- The bus driver was tested and is negative.
- All facility and staff were tested and are negative.
- Everyone wore their mask.
- The CDC and education authority have cleared the employees and allowed us to continue with physical school.
What does that mean?
- It means that asymptomatic cases are still a problem everywhere. Since elementary students are going back, I saw more people on the street in what I would consider close to normal activity.
- Now since everyone is mingling, those asymptomatic people will spread it to others. But if you don’t want an epidemic….
- Protocols, rules, and guidelines are the only way you can operate.
- Every time we get on the bus, we have a checklist for our name and our temp is taken.
- Wherever we are going whether it be school or airport or a store, our temperature is taken (and our name is recorded).
- On our arrival at school this morning, there was police presence in the street checking for compliance (distancing, masks…). I did not take a direct picture as that can get you in trouble anywhere you travel. Also, there were more medical personnel on hand when we went through the temperature scanners, most likely from the CDC.
Before I found out about this I was invited to a hike, a dinner and a brunch this last weekend. There are still many people not going out in the city. Our faculty do not all go out together right now.
I am also grateful my school gave us a little mixer on Friday afternoon before we boarded the buses. Not being in a public school means they can have wine, beer, and snacks for us. We all sorely needed that interaction and it was a great way to start the weekend.
5 rams park (Yuexiu park)
Claire and I were up for some city hiking. I ran half way there and then made the rest of the way to the entrance. That part of the entrance was closed. We are used to many entrances being blocked in parks and malls, etc. to temperature scan and control the amount of people. We went to this entrance so that we can take the skybridge which is an elevated 8 km walk way that goes above ground from here to Baiyun mountain. Unfortunately it was closed due to impending bad weather.
From here we decided to do walk to Baiyun but on the street. Definitely not as scenic and it is a part of the city I am not very familiar with. Once at Baiyun we were to tired to hike the mountain. I snapped some pictures.
From here I walked part of the way back to where Claire lived to walk through a garden park I had not been to yet. Jufang garden park was very pretty and on the other side of it I took a Didi home as it was another 11km from here.
That night I dined at Mercato with a couple people I know and more teachers from other schools I had not met before. It was great to hear what their schools are doing. I’m lucky as no one at my school had lost jobs, been asked to go to school on Saturdays, or had our year extended. It was excellent food, but I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures. I did take a picture of the view from the terrace though.
The next day I met Claire and Morgana at 13 factories for brunch. (Again too hungry I forgot to take a picture).
13FACTORIES takes its name from the area of the same name in the old part of Guangzhou. This area is where the first foreign trade was allowed during the Qing dynasty, and much like America, a unique place where people from all over the world came to interact. Today, 13FACTORIES aims to create a place in the spirit of the original, a gathering of international friends combined with the sharing of delicious food and drink in a comfortable, casual atmosphere.
But we decided to splurge and we went elsewhere for cinnamon rolls after we had talked for a few hours.
It was great to have different interactions over the weekend.