A Belgian physical education teacher living in Shanghai was interviewed this morning by Fabrice Grosfilley, in the morning of Bel RTL. China, where he resides, is ahead of the epidemic. The expatriate gives a very enlightening testimony on the gradual return to a normal life.
“The deconfinement started with us on February 9, so it’s already been 3 months since the activity resumes little by little with a lot of precautions”, specifies the professor.
He pursues : “Life is almost normal: bars, restaurants are open. In the public space, we keep putting on a mask and there are quite a few small constraints, for example the fact of having to present a QR code at the restaurant and the temperature taken at the entrance to certain stores “.
Can you explain to us what this QR code consists of?
The QR code is an application that you have to place on your phone and that is a government application. If we come back from abroad or from another province, it indicates that we are still in quarantine (with prohibition to leave our home or to enter another building).
Did you have a real quarantine period? For two weeks you were unable to leave your home …
There were temperature controls at the exit of each “compound”, homes … at the entrance of each store. I think I have never known my temperature as much as during these two weeks and obviously wearing the mandatory mask and that is very important, this mask was mandatory from the start.
Do you find your life back? Have things actually changed?
Today, life is really resuming as before. Yes, we are still taking precautions, we go out less than usual but here it was yesterday 30 degrees and I was on the terrace without a mask. The mask has not been 100% mandatory for two weeks now, but people still put it on when they go for a walk.
How did deconfinement go with you?
At the start, it was really only the essential trades that returned to work with great care and obviously with shifts where one in three workers returned to their business to really respect social distancing. Education is the last link in this chain of return to work. I’ve been teaching online for three months and I started again last Monday.
How is it going in your school? We installed gantries to take the temperature of the students…
Children should take their temperature three times a day. A first time at home before even coming to school. If they have a temperature above 37.3, they cannot go to school and obviously have to go to the nearest hospital.
On arrival at school, there is a portal with thermal camera which takes the temperature a second time and then in the afternoon when we make the call, we take the temperature one last time. Then, wearing a mask is compulsory and we have to change it once a day. So we have to have two masks on us for the day. There is hydroalcoholic gel in front of each class in each building. The premises, classrooms, outdoor spaces are disinfected twice a day. There is also obviously social distancing.
Are you a physical education teacher … Do you participate in team sports or have you adapted your program?
No, no collective sport. The sport is done only outdoors with disciplines that encourage social distancing. For example, now we are doing orienteering but which is more like orienteering. There, the children did not play sports, they remained confined almost for three months, so here we resume a gentle physical activity.
We have seen a lot of spectacular images of street disinfection with clouds of products … How is it going well in the streets, in schools?
In Shanghai, I don’t see it like that. In schools, there is indeed an army of cleaning women who clean the classrooms from top to bottom twice a day and there are maintenance staff who spray the outdoor spaces with disinfectants.
You are Belgian expatriate in China and where you are, you are ahead of the epidemic. When you see the situation in Belgium, what advice would you give to Belgium?
Don’t open schools now, open them in September. We have been waiting in China for zero cases for over a month before reopening schools, and I think that makes sense.
Are you in good spirits after three months of confinement?
I really feel safe. There are no teachers absent from school and no students are absent from my school either. I think the public really has confidence in what has been done. You can spit on China as much as you want, but managing this crisis today has proven to be quite effective. Today, we are quite confident.
Will it have changed your life and your outlook on China?
I think it will have changed the eyes of many people and it will mark generations whether in China or Belgium.
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