Well, here I am back in Beijing and via combination of aspirin, reading a book on Antarctic Exploration and the fact that I don’t have “it” (it being H1N1) I’m through the quarantine gauntlet.
To China’s credit, they are pretty thorough, much more thorough than Hong Kong, which you astute (smartass) readers will also point out is also China, but it’s different.
In China, you land at a special “Swine Flu” gate, you have to fill in a form which I am sad to say no longer lists one of the possible symptoms as “Snivel”. You are not let off the plane until a medical team in grubby white coats board the plane and take everyone’s temperature.
If you are at the pointy end, you may be thinking “this is why I paid that extra $$$ for”, given that the thermometer would have a decidedly awful taste by the time it gets to the back row in economy. However they use a very cool infrared gun.
Once in the airport you go through another temperature check. I notice most people are walking way more slowly than normal to keep their temperatures down.
The measures at the border are the most thorough they could be short of a rectal exam. However this is not good enough for my customer here.
I turned up at work and was promptly sent home! I have to undergo a 5 day Quarantine. However it’s a Claytons kind of Quarantine, i.e. the quarantine you have, when you’re not really having a quarantine. You see I can meet with all of the team, I can roam Beijing at will, I can expose my foreign and deadly germs to all and sundry, I just can’t go onsite.
You keep those foreign germs to yourself Kirk! Noone wants you causing an outbreak at your favourite dining spots!