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Comment by mrintellectual | Hacker News Reader

I can sympathize with your situation. I was in an office building in Shanghai last November when it got locked down for 48 hours - nobody in or out. Everybody ended up ordering takeout, and the entire building had to be tested for COVID a total of four times. The most insane part is that they don't even let you take pictures of the lockdown (I almost got my phone confiscated by the police for taking pictures).

Also, sleeping in an office chair is a lot harder than it looks.

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Exactly. This is another situation that everyone wants to avoid getting caught in. Like I mentioned, it is now about not getting hit with control measures rather than avoiding the actual disease.

I should also mention that the situation is t actually "bad." I can leave my apartment and walk around, probably take the taxi anywhere in the city. But I think that will change over the next few weeks.

Omg pretty strict procedure, you had to remain in the office for 48 hours?

Yes, offices become quarantine sites if someone test positive.

Sounds like a good way to get everyone there infected.

...yes, that's how quarantines work? Everyone within the quarantine may get infected, but the virus won't spread to anyone outside.

Preventing spread inside a quarantine is a strictly lower priority than preventing spread to the outside, but to claim ignoring that concern is "how quarantines work" is not true at all. Why would you say that?

I guess I don't agree? You can certainly implement additional measures within the quarantine to prevent spread, but the essence of the world is to cut off the outside, not the inside. Any other restrictions are extra. (And, sure, you might be advised to quarantine in your room within a quarantined building—that's two quarantines.)

And in the specific context we're discussing, I agree with the GP that quarantining an office building leaves everyone who's forced to live in that building more likely to get sick than if they all went home for two weeks. However, the purpose isn't to protect the people in the building, but the broader population.

> the essence of the world is to cut off the outside, not the inside

I certainly agree with that. But by my reading, your earlier post is saying that unchecked internal spread is also part of the essence, rather than just saying that worries about internal spread are secondary.

> And in the specific context we're discussing, I agree with the GP that quarantining an office building leaves everyone who's forced to live in that building more likely to get sick than if they all went home for two weeks. However, the purpose isn't to protect the people in the building, but the broader population.

Well nobody suggested sending them home. There are lots of ways to handle it. And they didn't mention any additional safety measures, but that might have been for brevity's sake. In part "Sounds like a good way to get everyone there infected." is also a prompt to elaborate on internal safety measures, if there were any.

> Well nobody suggested sending them home.

What is the alternative? Either they stay where they are, or they go to another location. The latter would involve breaking the quarantine during transit if nothing else.

I suppose I'm also personally convinced that there's no way to keep a virus like Omicron from spreading within an office building where everyone is forced to live. Someone has to distribute food, everyone has to use shared bathrooms, and there are almost certainly fewer offices than people.

Depending on the size of the office, I would argue against method like quarantine in the office

Alternative: let people go & quarantine them at home.

COVID infection is not an one-off event like 10 people get infected at once. They have overlapping incubation & infection periods. Possibly people will get keep getting infected during those 48 hours, and the whole office get quarantined again and again.

edit: on another thought, I don't think my argument holds any weight given how China has been very successful at this.

Yes, but they won't spread it to their families/neighbors.

Did someone need any pills? As a person that takes medication daily, this would be extremely painful for me.

If you need medication daily, it is generally a good idea to keep that medication in your backpack if possible. Anything can happen; if you're reliant on something, keep it with/close to you.

Anything can happen, but in China, you are more likely to gave your movement and access to medicine restricted than in much of the Western world.

It is a whole different ruleset.

In earlier China lockdowns there were stories of infants starving to death after their parents were forcibly locked down.

Oh come on. Extraordinary claims require… how does the saying go… at least a link to some online news source as documentation? So we know where you’re getting this stuff.

that's very different than the story my relatives in china told me. While in quarantine, government sets up dedicated teams of delivery personnel to deliver daily necessities. While the lock down is strict, you are by no means in any danger.

That's complete bs lol. Please leave the commentating to people who actually know what's going on.

This was a long time ago, so I can't find the link. It may have been a variation on this story

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-chi...

Jesus Christ, that's brutal

I sleep quite comfortably in my Aeron chair, so I don't see the problem really

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