Since November, China has started getting Covid cases again. Seems like they started in Shanghai and Tianjin, and we were fine here in Beijing until close to Christmas. Shunyi, where a lot of the international schools are and embassy families live, cases spread from one man contracting it on a flight. Pretty quickly because of contact tracing, everyone that had interacted with him were tested as well, and other positive cases were discovered. I guess because of what seemed like a quick spread, different Shunyi neighborhoods were locked down and schools were closed and went virtual. After the Christmas holiday then, most schools required a negative covid test result. I started hearing from friends days before the New Year that they had to be tested, but our school didn't notify us until 5:30pm New Year's Eve. Awesome. The parent chats for the school were bustling with frantic parents asking where they could get tested, and I may have added my own complaint about the short notice. It was Friday night as everyone is about to celebrate the holiday of the new year, and we had to have the results by Sunday night. Luckily someone recommended BJU for quick testing. So I called and made an appointment for the next morning. Here we are in the taxi.
Luckily they did the testing by appointment, so it was very organized and the line was fairly short. We did have to pay about $65 per test though compared to some much cheaper and even free locations, so I'm sure it deterred a lot of people from going to that location.
Love these kiddos! They're still smiling for me after a Covid test that made them stand out in the cold for 45 minutes on the first morning of their New Year. What a way to start 2021! We're hoping this is not a foreshadowing of how this year will play out. We're hoping for better this year with the vaccines that are starting to be released!
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