My son's kindergarten is going to resume in Monday, and they asked for 48h test results from everyone in the household by Monday morning.
Possibly related to this, today I heard a central free testing facility in our neighborhood had run out of swabs by 4pm, and had to stop taking tests for the day because of that.
@AlPage48: "hate the way the word "free" is used in the context of health care"
Even if it's all provided by the state's tax revenues, someone does pay indeed.
But compared to many other countries, in China the state and local governments get revenue from many other sources than direct taxation of individuals.
Lot of people (in particular in cities like Kunming and lower) do not earn enough to ever pay income tax, even if full-time employed. What you earn you keep, and what you spend is your choice.
It makes it appear less like you are paying for someone else's health care when you finance the system by buying an apartment, cigarettes, train ticket, or whatever.
I'm not sure sure if you interpreted my previous post as I intended, but to continue on the HOD theme, my point was for the underlings to do as the King judges best, so the King may observe possible errors in his own judgement and improve on that in future.
So as to avoid giving false impression of (for example) businesses surviving despite the restrictions, just because the restrictions are not actually followed that much.
Varying enforcement and miscommunications could be primary reason for some debatably tough policies (and not just about CoVid) in China.
If government decisions would be followed more accurately, perhaps said government could better observe side-effects of hazardous policies, and avoid formulating such in future.
From this perspective I think that reporting (for what it's worth on forums like this) what really happens on the ground is beneficial in bigger picture - even if it could land some businesses in trouble.
In our vicinity there are places where you can still get the test for free, and other newer ones have been popping up where it is the 16ish RMB with shorter lines. I take this as government acknowledging that the testing burden is too much without buying extra services, hence the fees.
I get that these restrictions are for all of China, but so are my arguments above to try to understand them.
Personally I am against the restrictions despite the (debatable) life saving reasoning behind them.
I would quote a medical professional from Finland at early stages of the pandemic, who tried tor rationalize the acceptability of old people simply dying away. He phrased it along the lines of "old people don't die because they stop eating, they stop eating because they are dying".
About the elderly and other vulnerable groups, I can only assume that the very purpose of these restrictions is to get them stay at home. Getting around is problematic, but that's probably the point of this exercise.
I dare to speculate that the number of those missing important hospital visits or other other life-critical appointments is small relative to those that might get seriously (deadly) ill from getting the virus from going to shopping centers, dancing, or picking up grandchildren, if that was easy.
Notable also that at least in some locales elderly are/were not allowed to get vaccinated at local clinics, and are still missing vaccinations completely.
Dazzer: ""suggest that provision also includes adequate car parking"
I would assume it does, but what constitutus adequate is debatable.
For example in housing developments I would assume that they do it by some assumption of how many resident households own a car on average and then some extra for visitors. But at least in our relatively new development (though still old enough to have "matured"), it seems to be somewhat of a challenge to find parking space by the road.
I would also argue that limiting parking space would deter more cars hitting the roads (which is never a bad thing), if it is accompanied by meaningful penalties for illegal parking.
This would especially reduce meaningless car ownership, ie. for city dwellers who only buy it for status symbol.
Sure these parks are better than nothing. But I would hope the city would also step up on construction supervision in middle of urban developments.
From what I have learned, is that developers are required to allocate certain amount of green space for every square meter they are building.
What happens, is that especially outside the complexes they initially do that, but then after the authorities have checked and confirmed this, they tear it apart and replace with parking space or just empty concrete for damas to dance at.
I would also link this to another topic recently covered on this site, which is a central government team's visit to check whether Kunming now could be considered a "civilized city".
Lot of posts about this have appeared around the city in recent weeks, apparently trying to sell the idea to the general public.
Couple of weeks ago in our neihbourhood we spotted a group of people, who we suspected part of this investigation group, and one thing that they did outside our house was looking in the rubbish bins.
I noted that they pointed out how both "recyclable" and "non-recyclable" bins contained mixed waste. Also when they left the scene, one of the sanitation workers grumped, as if the group had just messed up her work.
So even if rubbish in both of the bins ends up to same place when collected (according to this article anyway), it seemed to be a factor in determining Kunming's "civilized" status that residents should sort their waste properly to correct bins.
Among other things, I'm guessing this explains why they revamped the previously lively bazaar and street food strip of a road behind Carrefour at Longquen Lu / Baiyun Lu intersection.
All pop-up establishments were removed, making the road more accessible to cars, and leaving only those shops and restaurants which have presence in the houses by the road.
About her interpretation of Kunming air - I don't think Kunming air is that bad in comparison to many cities in China, but if she never did (which I don't know) experience smoggy winter day in Beijing or other super polluted city, perhaps Kunming does not compare that well to her experience in US.
Kunming might be all about spring, flowers. and blue skies for someone coming from Beijing, but perhaps not for someone hailing from Maryland?
It's quite subjective matter really.
And when she extends the fresh air to civil liberties, my arguments on that matter with Chinese usually proceed to them saying how they are content and satisfied without them - so why all the hate if someone happens to enjoy those.
The nation just has low self-esteem, and she forgot to consider that.
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Urban re-greening effort to include 37 new Kunming parks
发布者Dazzer: ""suggest that provision also includes adequate car parking"
I would assume it does, but what constitutus adequate is debatable.
For example in housing developments I would assume that they do it by some assumption of how many resident households own a car on average and then some extra for visitors. But at least in our relatively new development (though still old enough to have "matured"), it seems to be somewhat of a challenge to find parking space by the road.
I would also argue that limiting parking space would deter more cars hitting the roads (which is never a bad thing), if it is accompanied by meaningful penalties for illegal parking.
This would especially reduce meaningless car ownership, ie. for city dwellers who only buy it for status symbol.
Urban re-greening effort to include 37 new Kunming parks
发布者Sure these parks are better than nothing. But I would hope the city would also step up on construction supervision in middle of urban developments.
From what I have learned, is that developers are required to allocate certain amount of green space for every square meter they are building.
What happens, is that especially outside the complexes they initially do that, but then after the authorities have checked and confirmed this, they tear it apart and replace with parking space or just empty concrete for damas to dance at.
Interview: Tracking Kunming's trash with Adam Liebman
发布者This was interesting indeed.
I would also link this to another topic recently covered on this site, which is a central government team's visit to check whether Kunming now could be considered a "civilized city".
Lot of posts about this have appeared around the city in recent weeks, apparently trying to sell the idea to the general public.
Couple of weeks ago in our neihbourhood we spotted a group of people, who we suspected part of this investigation group, and one thing that they did outside our house was looking in the rubbish bins.
I noted that they pointed out how both "recyclable" and "non-recyclable" bins contained mixed waste. Also when they left the scene, one of the sanitation workers grumped, as if the group had just messed up her work.
So even if rubbish in both of the bins ends up to same place when collected (according to this article anyway), it seemed to be a factor in determining Kunming's "civilized" status that residents should sort their waste properly to correct bins.
Yunnan's capital scrambles as 'Civilized Kunming' audit looms
发布者Among other things, I'm guessing this explains why they revamped the previously lively bazaar and street food strip of a road behind Carrefour at Longquen Lu / Baiyun Lu intersection.
All pop-up establishments were removed, making the road more accessible to cars, and leaving only those shops and restaurants which have presence in the houses by the road.
It's a shame, in my opinion.
Chinese student apologizes after Maryland graduation speech sparks firestorm
发布者About her interpretation of Kunming air - I don't think Kunming air is that bad in comparison to many cities in China, but if she never did (which I don't know) experience smoggy winter day in Beijing or other super polluted city, perhaps Kunming does not compare that well to her experience in US.
Kunming might be all about spring, flowers. and blue skies for someone coming from Beijing, but perhaps not for someone hailing from Maryland?
It's quite subjective matter really.
And when she extends the fresh air to civil liberties, my arguments on that matter with Chinese usually proceed to them saying how they are content and satisfied without them - so why all the hate if someone happens to enjoy those.
The nation just has low self-esteem, and she forgot to consider that.