Just weeks ago, catching Covid in China meant being taken to government quarantine for an indeterminate stay and your entire residential building being locked down, trapping neighbors in their homes for days or weeks.
Now, as the country rapidly relaxes restrictions, millions of people have been told to keep going to work — even if they’re infected.
The cities of Wuhu, Chongqing and Guiyang, and the province of Zhejiang, collectively home to more than 100 million people, all recently issued directives to public sector employees indicating a shift from preventing infection to allowing the resumption of life and work.
Asymptomatic and mildly ill workers can “go to work normally after taking protective measures as necessary for their health status and job requirements,” said the Chongqing and Wuhu authorities in similar statements posted on their municipal government websites.
Zhejiang provincial and health leaders gave similar instructions ata news conference Sunday, with one official suggesting key teams consider a rotation schedule “to ensure uninterrupted work and maintain order when outbreaks are severe.” Guiyang followed suit on Tuesday, according to state media.
The push to return to work comes as China relaxes rules around testing, quarantine and other pandemic policies, in a dramatic step away from its costly zero-Covid policy.
For three years, its stringent approach has kept Covid cases and deaths relatively low in the country. But it has also wreaked havoc on the economy and people’s mental health.
An incessant cycle of outbreaks and lockdowns has coincided with record youth unemployment, disruptions to supply chains and a cratering of the real estate sector that accounts for about 30% of China’s GDP.
Meanwhile, scenes of chaos emerged from mass lockdowns incities like Shanghai, with residents reportedly unable to access food, basic supplies and even emergency medical care — sowing deep resentment toward the authorities and, in November, a wave of rare public protest.
The central government’s decision earlier this month to step away from zero-Covid will undoubtedly bring relief to the struggling economy and frustrated residents. But the abrupt U-turn was seemingly carried out with little advance warning or preparation, causing a sense of whiplash and confusion among many.
“A few months ago if you went out like this, you would be sentenced,” one person commented on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, under the back-to-work announcement.
Bonnie Wang, a fintech worker in Zhejiang’s industrial hub of Ningbo, told CNN that a colleague with Covid symptoms continued to work in the office this week with a fever.
