One day after Chaoyang District’s mandatory Covid testing was announced the news has already begun affecting the last few days of this school year for students.

On Mon, Apr 25, Beijing City International School (BCIS) moved its classes online due to its close proximity to the new restricted area in and around Shuangjing.

Yesterday, Apr 26, two primary schools in Haidian District sent all their students and staff home for 14 days of home quarantine + an additional 7 days of health observation following the discovery that some students are identified as close contact cases. These identified close contact students have been sent to a gymnasium in Changping District where they were allowed to be accompanied by one parent.

Presumably, these kids will be kept and tested at the designated center until they’re cleared for home quarantine, similar to what happened in Wangjing a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, Apr 26, Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing) reported that a student had visited a location where a confirmed case had visited hours prior. The school issued the following statement to faculty and families. It states that the school will conduct campus-wide testing before releasing students to go home for the day, and that the school will switch to online learning starting Wed, Apr 27.

The international schools in Beijing that are still holding on-campus, offline classes are abiding by the district’s strict testing policy.

This morning (Apr 27) Beijing Youth Daily reported that effective immediately, all primary and secondary schools in Tongzhou District will be closed.

To keep yourself updated with the latest Covid related information, be sure you’re getting your information from proper sources. True Run Media’s founder, Mike Wester, started the first Safe & Sane WeChat group back in 2020, and since then the Safe & Sane network has been helping the Beijing English-speaking community do just that – stay safe and sane.

There’s daily information on the latest Covid numbers in Beijing, and you’ll be able to ask Covid-related questions of other members of the group. Just add TBJButler on WeChat and request to be added to one of the Safe & Sane groups.

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Yesterday’s announcement of a change in Covid quarantine policy set off a new wave of concern amongst Beijing parents regarding the possibility of children being separated from their parents, as they have been during hospital treatment.

However, a message sent out this morning by Beijing city officials gives a strong indication that families will be able to quarantine together.

The post, which quotes guidelines issued by the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, doesn’t explicitly state that families will be able to quarantine together, but outlines behaviors that should be followed when sharing rooms while in quarantine, such as separating beds, and avoiding sharing toiletries.

Up until this week, all patients diagnosed with Covid-19, regardless of the severity of their symptoms, have been treated in individual isolation wards at Ditan Hospital. In the rare cases of children contracting the virus, they have been separated from their parents for treatment, regardless of age.

According to Beijing residents who have gone through the process, children under 14 years old flying in from abroad have been able to quarantine with a parent, as long as both parties have tested negative.

This week, rules were relaxed to allow local residents who test positive but are asymptomatic or only have mild symptoms to be quarantined at facilities other than the hospital, presumably at quarantine hotels (though to date we are unaware of the specific locations).

If indeed children can quarantine in the same room as their parents, it comes as great relief to families across the city. We will keep an eye out for further confirmation on this and in the meantime, here is a full-text translation (via WeChat Translate) of the story that went out this morning:

1. Centralized isolation in conditional cases as far as possible to choose a suite of isolation places, each one, relatively independent, but also convenient care. If the isolation point does not have the conditions, should try to choose a large area, there are two beds in the room, it is recommended to achieve physical isolation between the two beds.

2. Parents, as guardians, should pay close attention to the changes in their children’s health and report any abnormal changes in time.

3. Parents and children should wear disposable surgical masks when they are in the same room. Minimize unnecessary contact with children and their supplies during isolation. Do not hug or quarrel during isolation. Keep a distance of more than 1 meter. If close contact is necessary, both sides should wear N95 masks. Cover your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing.

4. It is recommended to share meals, use special tableware, do not cross the use of tableware.

5. Do not share toiletries such as towels and electronics such as mobile phones during quarantine. Strengthen hand hygiene, provide hand sanitizer, and follow the seven-step method.

6. During the isolation period, the shared toilet should be cleaned and disinfected daily. After each use of the toilet, use 75% alcohol disinfection wipes to wipe and disinfect the toilet seat cushion, flushing on, toilet cover, and other parts of the skin.

7. For frequent contact with door handles, faucets, hand sanitizer, as well as remote controls, mobile phones, landline, and other personal items use 75% alcohol wipes for disinfection.

8. The isolation room should be ventilated at least once a day and in the afternoon, each time more than 30 minutes.

9. Clean the surfaces of the tabletop, countertop, and furniture in the room by wet cleaning. Use quaternary ammonium salt disinfectant or disinfectant wipes to wipe and disinfect the above surfaces at least once a day.

Images: Pexels