Replies

Ah but I was in mainland China, in summertime. Before we were allowed off the plane, “health officers” in plastic booties, gloves, masks and goggles used an IR thermometer on each of us, and there were at least six who did not pass the test. They stayed on the plane and we left.

When exiting the plane, there were two thermal cameras with calibration blackbodies, scanning us again. Another set at Customs, where there were other scanners, possibly face recognition scanners. The customs guy I was interviewed by was very interested in my health, how I felt, how I had felt last week, too, and watched my face the whole time.

There was an aerosol monitor of some sort running there too.

So they checked our body temp several times and possibly sniffed us for bugs with the air sampler, at the airport. When we got bussed to the hotel, we were warned about H1N1 and other airborne diseases and given a lecture on handwashing, and hand sanitizers, on the bus. We were given masks and urged to wear them, but this was not pushed hard.

At the hotel there was ANOTHER thermal camera at the front door, with a sign that said if the alarm went off, stand there and someone would come along to take us to the clinic “for help”, yeah right.

A simpler IR thermometer at checkin.

Every room had detailed descriptions of precautions. And, on TV one morning, a kids cartoon about, you guessed it, H1N1 and how to avoid it. There were signs in the street in English and Chinese about H1N1, and posters in every store I went in. It got boring then weird. All of the signage in my room and on the street had a phone number to call if I thought I might be coming down with something, along with the promise that I’d be taken to a clinic right away once I called.

It was very common to see Chinese with masks on, on the street and behind counters in stores. Anyone handling money wore plastic or rubber gloves (blue was a popular color).

So at least in Beijing, Souzhou, Xi’an and several smaller cities, the Chinese actually went way beyond what we did in the States. And yes, they were spared serious problems.

Coming into the USA, there was none of that nonsense, get off the plane, through customs, and out into the world. The talking heads on TV mention it lightly, and nobody seems to really take it seriously, compared to China.