Fly From New York to Beijing, Now I quarantine in Tianjin

On Jan.1, 2020, I shared my schedule with my colleagues: depart for New York on Jan.22 or 23, and back to Beijing in late March. 

The day (Jan.23, Beijing Time) I left Beijing, the Chinese government announced the lockdown of Wuhan, the first epicenter of COVID-19. And the day (March 24, EST) my fight back to Beijing, New York City was becoming the new epicenter.

The March 24 flight CA990 (New York to Beijing) was good; everyone wore masks, and some put on protective closings. According to the new policy, the Chinese government orders international flights for Beijing needs to land in Tianjin and other cities first for checking health status, the health person could take the plane to Beijing after the checking. 

We landed in Tianjin at 19:30 (March 25, Beijing Time), and waited for four hours to get off the plane. Unluckily, there were 4-5 people have high body temperature, and they were asked to go to the hospital for further testings. As one of the 60 close contacts (someone with high temperature sit behind me), I have to quarantine at a government-controlled centralized isolation hotel in Tianjin for 14 days. 

The Air China service staffs and the health inspection personnel at China Customs are professional and helpful; the procedures were time-consuming but not scary. Actually, I was happy to see that the government is taking the coronavirus very seriously.

At 3:30 am (March 26), we arrived at the hotel. Emotion stable, but body tired, and a little sad that I could not quarantine in Beijing, where my families are living.