Beijing in the Time of SARS

Some expats have been saying they’ve never enjoyed Beijing so much. The city is quieter, restaurant service is quicker, even the smog seems less. But in the last couple of days even that has changed. Most expats’ insurance (including mine) includes an evacuation clause; if the insured party is hospitalized, the insurer must fly them home and care for them in a US hospital. As of Friday, China is enforcing a policy of quarantining all SARS patients as well as relations and close contacts of those infected. In China, many hospitals have only limited capacity to feed and bathe patients because traditionally the families of patients come and look after these needs. The new quarantine rules prohibit such coming and going, and hospitals are having real trouble taking care of these needs. Expat or not, this is the fate of infected people.

Dad and I talk every day about whether to stay or leave. On the one hand it seems stupid to stay in the host city of an epidemic. On the other, Beijing is a city of 11 million, and cases remain low. The disease seemed to have a death rate of 4-6 percent, but now reports hint that it may be as high as ten percent if it spreads beyond the ability of hospitals to handle every case (a number Beijing is fast approaching.) The WHO says transmission of the disease is less likely than flu, that fluids must exchange in order to acquire the virus. We wash our hands all the time, keep the windows open in taxis, observe a healthy distance from interlocutors.

So, we have chosen an alternative route—go to Xin Jiang, in the Chinese northwest (think Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Tibet) for a few days. We will travel, I will try to buy a rug or two, and hope to observe the mix of Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Hui, Uighur, Tibetan, Turkmen, and Han Chinese that call the place home. We hope to venture to Kashgar, near the Tajik border but may stay centered near Orumqi. I am excited to see 20,000 foot mountains, Chinese mosques, and eat lots of lamb kebabs. Also, without an interpreter, I will be in charge of getting us around.

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