Home confinement has a silver lining

It's probably the longest time that I have been stuck with my parents since I flew the nest for college more than a decade ago.

The novel coronavirus outbreak undoubtedly made the recent Spring Festival holiday one of the most memorable I can recall.

The holiday is usually the only time of year that I leave Beijing for my hometown in Fujian province in eastern China and reunite with my parents.

Over the years, in that limited space of about a week, I would often spend a considerable amount of it catching up with my old buddies and former classmates.

I didn't talk much with my parents and rarely engaged in any interactive fun activities with them, which I'm sure is the case for many other grown-ups. Yet, they never complained, and the happiness on their face when I was home had me assuming that my presence alone was enough for our get-together.

However, the epidemic had us all confined to my apartment during the holiday this year, which, surprisingly, has offered us new opportunities for intimacy.

I found my parents taking great pleasure in sharing interesting posts on social media with me and offering their own interpretations of them. Conversations ensued afterwards. It suddenly occurred to me that it is a joy that we didn't have before.

Although the epidemic put a grim complexion on things, the situation has unexpectedly offered me an opportunity to reconnect with my parents.

In addition, I saw a silver lining in more ways than one.

Whenever we watched TV or flipped through social media, such as the Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo or Douyin, known as Tik-Tok overseas, we saw updates of the nation's fight against the virus, including real-time statistics of patients and the cured across the country, as well as expert lectures on virus prevention, and the latest discoveries and treatment about the virus.

The extensive coverage has not just kept each of us informed, but turned out to be very educational.

My mother, in her 60s, is a creature of habit, and she has been a firm believer in handpicking groceries when shopping on her own for as long as she has lived. At the beginning of the virus outbreak, she gave in to her inner drive and insisted on going to the supermarket, with the idea that catching the virus was as unlikely as a lottery win.

Yet, after keeping abreast of the virus status and experts' advice, she came to her senses and allowed me to order takeout, which she had frowned upon before.

To my surprise, she also learned, from news coverage, how to properly sanitize the package and everything else afterwards.

My mother is certainly not the only one that fully understands the necessity of taking extra precautions.

A few days later I found major online shopping platforms had also launched such measures as self-help pickup and no-contact delivery to reduce potential virus infections.

I'm grateful that they responded in such a short time, in addition to managing to function and delivering us fresh food. I couldn't say a big enough thank-you to those delivery men who always wore a mask and waited for me to pick up my order at the entrance of my residential community and kept their distance when I showed up.

Temporary tents have been set up right at the entrance too, where I saw street committee workers busy keeping track of the recent travel history of people coming and going through my community, which makes each of us feel safe and assured that the transmission of the virus will be contained soon.

Indeed, I can feel the joint effort of everyone in this fight against the virus, whether it be the less crowded streets or everyone I spot wearing a mask in public.

Positive things will continue to arise, with the nation planning to amend the Law for Wild Animal Protection to crack down on those indiscriminately trading or eating wildlife, as well as a possible medical breakthrough against the virus.

As for my friends and colleagues with whom I stay in contact online, most of them have shown a positive attitude toward the fight against the epidemic.

Some of them have stopped ordering restaurant takeout and began to cook for themselves. I see heated discussions about recipes and nutritious food selections and photo posts of their work, a trend which has been catching on.

Those into body building at gyms have long since started exercising at home, and even a few of the lazy bones around me have joined in the home exercise wave.

We all agree that a good lifestyle boosts immunity, which is the most valuable commodity of all at the moment, and all of us are looking forward to the excitement of a reunion with friends that is, hopefully, on the horizon.