Chinese workers can go to the office even infected with Covid; understand

Just a few weeks ago, getting Covid in China meant being taken into indefinite government quarantine and your entire apartment building locked down, trapping neighbors in their homes for days or weeks.

Now, as the country rapidly relaxes restrictions, millions of people have been told to keep working – even if they are infected.

The cities of Wuhu, Chongqing and Guiyang, and Zhejiang Province, which are collectively home to more than 100 million people, recently issued guidelines for public sector employees, indicating a shift from preventing infection to allowing life and work to resume. .

Asymptomatic and mildly ill workers can “go to work normally after taking the necessary protective measures for their health status and work requirements,” Chongqing and Wuhu authorities said in similar statements posted on their municipal government websites.

Zhejiang provincial and health leaders issued similar instructions at a news conference on Sunday, with one official suggesting that key staff consider a rotation schedule “to ensure uninterrupted work and maintain order when outbreaks are severe”. Guiyang did the same on Tuesday (20), according to state media.

The push to get back to work comes as China relaxes rules on testing, quarantine and other pandemic policies, in a dramatic step away from its pricey zero Covid policy.

For three years, its rigorous approach has kept Covid cases and deaths relatively low in the country. But it also wreaked havoc on the economy and people’s mental health.

A relentless cycle of outbreaks and lockdowns has coincided with record youth unemployment, disruptions to supply chains and a crater in the real estate sector, which accounts for around 30% of China’s GDP.

Meanwhile, scenes of chaos emerged from mass lockdowns in cities like Shanghai, with residents reportedly denied access to food, basic supplies and even emergency medical care — sowing deep resentment towards the authorities and, in November, a rare wave of protests. public.

The central government’s decision earlier this month to move away from Covid-zero will no doubt bring relief to the struggling economy and frustrated residents.

But the abrupt return was apparently accomplished with little notice or preparation, causing a sense of whiplash and confusion among many.

“A few months ago, if you went out like that, you would be doomed,” one person commented on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, under the back-to-work announcement.

Bonnie Wang, a fintech employee at the industrial hub of Ningbo in Zhejiang, told CNN that a colleague with Covid symptoms continued to work in the office this week with a fever.

“I hope that when we are faced with situations like this, our health will still come first and work will still come second,” she said.

change of priorities

During the pandemic, local governments essentially had a “get out of jail card” on their economic performance, said Ryan Manuel, founder of Bilby, a Hong Kong-based company that uses artificial intelligence to analyze Chinese politics.

“Their adherence to the core Covid policy is what mattered,” he said. “Economic growth numbers, all these different things that you measure them by, they boil down to – ‘We don’t have a Covid outbreak, everything is fine’.”

But, he added, the central government’s approach has changed to: “Let’s not give that leeway… let’s judge it again by growth.”

This shift in priority is clearly reflected in government messaging, with Chinese experts and state media downplaying the severity of Omicron and instead emphasizing the importance of economic recovery.

Top leaders at the Central Economic Work Conference, a key annual meeting that ended on Friday, said in a statement that stabilizing economic growth is the top priority for 2023.

They also signaled that policymakers would relax their grip on the country’s private sector — a move away from the regulatory crackdown that in recent years has thrown China’s biggest private companies into chaos.

And although the economy has been struggling for several years, Manuel said China’s leaders can now feel safer adjusting their policy after the closely watched Communist Party Congress in October.

Authorities across the country worked frantically to contain Covid cases ahead of the highly sensitive twice-decade leadership reshuffle that saw Chinese leader Xi Jinping emerge more powerful than ever in his third term.

“You’re not going to take chances before the Party Congress,” said Manuel. “But once the Party Congress is over, you don’t have that restriction.”

As cases rise, so does fear.

But that boost to economic growth comes at a cost, which is already clear as cases soar across the country, with widespread drug shortages and reports of crematoriums struggling to keep up.

Under current conditions, a national reopening could result in nearly a million deaths, according to a calculation by the CNN based on a study released last week by professors at the University of Hong Kong.

The paper, which has yet to undergo peer review, added that the rise in infections “would likely overwhelm many local health systems across the country.”

It is difficult to gauge the extent of the spread of the virus given the rapid shift from mandatory testing to self-testing at home. To complicate matters, many restrictions and rules on returning to work differ at the local level.

Wang, the worker in Ningbo, told CNN that a former colleague received no support from his superiors after recently falling ill.

“Do you know what was the first thing the company sent him? It was his work laptop. It’s outrageous,” she said, adding that while she understood the need for business to continue, “maybe because I’m a worker, I have more empathy for workers.”

As fears spread over the rising wave of cases, subway systems and streets have emptied in recent weeks, which is unusual at this time of year as China does not celebrate Christmas and most businesses are still closed. open.

The capital Beijing, now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, received just 2.21 million subway passengers on Monday (19), the subway said in an online post – more than 58% below the daily average of passengers during the week from early October to early December. Similar declines have been reported in other major cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou.

That sense of anxiety was reflected online, with many people reacting with alarm to the new guidelines.

“I feel the local government that introduced this policy is extremely irresponsible,” read a post on Weibo, where a related hashtag was viewed more than 240 million times as of Tuesday. “Asymptomatic and mildly ill patients can still be contagious… and many people have elderly relatives and children at home.”

Some took a more cynical tone, criticizing the decision for prioritizing the economy over workers’ well-being and demanding that their superiors had the same expectation.

“In other words, if you get sick, you need to take time off and deduct your salary or keep working,” wrote one Weibo user.

Another commented: “Sounds like putting money on life.”

*With reporting by Philip Wang and Teele Rebane of CNN.