The People's Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs National immigration authority issued an announcement on March 26, 2020 that China has decided to temporarily suspend entry of foreigners with currently valid visas and residence permits in China from 00:00 on March 28, 2020. My first comment is that I totally get this policy implementation. China has eliminated community transmission of Covid19 from almost the entire country. The new cases have come from returning Chinese nationals and foreigners. As much as I understood the rationale I did have an emotional response. First, I am thrilled that I chose to come in the middle of February and was able to use my 10 year visitor’s visa with no problem. Now I realize that I arrived just in time. Imagine if I had decided to listen to the advice of friends who told me it was too dangerous to work in China.
The second reason for my emotional response is that I was hoping to visit family and friends and to attend academic meetings in the US starting in May but after hearing this announcement ( and watching CNN) these activities seem faraway and the timing indistinct, totally unpredictable. When will it be practical to return? Both countries must have relaxed travel restrictions and requirements for quarantine and for that to happen the virus must be under control. It is impossible to predict when it will be practical to return. It was easy to contemplate coming to China for the long term to work in the healthcare sector since I have been doing that short term for 20 years. I’m comfortable and happy when I am working here – but in previous days there was a sure knowledge that after a couple of weeks I would be heading back to family, kids, grand kids, friends, colleagues – that has changed.
If I were able to travel to New York I would likely be required to quarantine (not sure why given I am coming from Beijing where there is no community transmission) adding two weeks to any journey. The worst part is that given the way things are now I would not be able to return to China. It’s made me think about immigrants and travelers of yore. In the 18th century when you left New York for Europe (much less the Orient) you were gone for months and there was no FaceTime! Letters could take months to transit by sailing ship. If someone died there was no getting back for the funeral, if a friend decided to get married you missed it, your baby who was 2 years old when you left would not remember you when you returned. It points to how resilient humans are and how much we need to challenge ourselves by putting ourselves in a different environment.
So I must take this situational affliction in stride. As oppose to my ancestors I do have FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp, WeChat, LinkedIn, SMS, email (yes, my friends email really exists and really works and is a better work platform than Chat platforms). I have amazing coworkers, colleagues, friends here in China. I am excited and challenged by my work every day, work that is making a difference to patients and to providers. Today I hosted a Gen Z live stream Webinar. I enlisted my 26 year old youngest daughter, my 22 year old granddaughter and my 19 year old granddaughter as part of the mixed Chinese and American group. There I was on a sunny Sunday morning in Beijing having an existential conversation with 15 young smart ambitious men and women including three of my family! What could be better? It is hard to imagine that anything could be better. Here is the link the Gen Z webinar.
Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels