Previously, on "Virus Travels"!

Our heroes were cut off from their home, enduring the terrible fate of being stuck on a Thai beach. With their visas running out, things aren't looking well for our dynamic duo. Where will they go next? Stay tuned for today's episode!

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They went to Malaysia and everything is fine.

A few folks have asked me if everything is still alright. First, thanks for your concern. But yes, everything is fine. Penang has been a good home to us, and in the 2 and a half weeks we've been here, I've noticed a big change in attitude. When we first arrived, the news was dominated with COVID-19. Now people are not too worried. Yes it's serious, and previously I said on Facebook it was currently as deadly as the flu. Which, at the time it was believed to be. Now we know that's not the case, with the number somewhere around 2-3%. Outside of Hubei and Wuhan though, the number is closer to 1%. I'm not trying to downplay its severity. This is still really bad. Each number is a person, and it's easy to loose sight of that. But as we've learned more about it, and see the numbers of new cases fall by the day, it doesn't seem to worry people as much anymore. Everyone isn't rushing to get masks anymore, and things are starting to return to normal. I said last time how everyone was taking it super seriously, and that's true. Disinfecting everything and thoroughly washing hands has become the norm. But it's changed from "I'm doing this because I'm scared." to "This is normal."

So this is the part where I complain about how the mostly, American news is covering this. In short, they're still doing a bad job. But instead I'd like to focus more on what people are not doing. Let's say there was a big tragedy in Louisiana. And Americans just said, "Wow, that sucks. Hope they get it under control." That's about the level of support from the Western world I'm seeing for Wuhan right now. Now you could argue that there's less support because it's in a different country, but I don't see that during the Australian wildfires. And I'm not trying to shame anyone, because donating any time/money/support for any cause is more than you have to do, and it's appreciated. But it does worry me that by appearances, Americans seem less concerned about helping because of language, politics, or something else. Even dumb stuff like this...

...really means a lot. It makes me happy, and shows that people care, even if superficially, about my home. I imagine it makes people in Wuhan feel especially good.

Alright that's too much negativity. Really this whole trip has been very positive for me. I've even started work on Monday by doing online teaching. And I gotta say, the kids seem to be much more engaged this way than they were in class. Maybe it's the computer, maybe it's being at home, maybe it's the parents likely looming over their shoulder. But I'd like this to continue to be a thing. And good news for that. School was scheduled to begin early March, but Shanghai has just announced no school indefinitely. I'm thinking April we'll get back to normal, but who knows? This online teaching is good experience for me, as I've never done it seriously before.

So you may be thinking that means we're going to stay on the beach until... who knows when. While tempting, I just want to go home. With cases and concerns dropping, Shanghai is coming back to life now, although certainly there are differences. There are some restrictions in place, for example no large gatherings, you must (by law) wear a mask when you go out, etc., things are going back to normal. So much is done with apps nowadays, you don't need to leave your apartment if you don't want, and my friends that stayed over the holiday have been fine (albeit bored) by living on home delivery of groceries, food, and packages. Except now they leave them on a table in a common area, and you walk downstairs to get them. Doable. Most of my friends and colleagues have returned, so we're going back as well, once we get a good flight. With the no school or mass gatherings rule in place, I'm not too worried. Kids are gross little germ factories, and while I like them, I don't like them THAT much. And after all this, they're going to be the best trained kids in the world on washing their hands.