SPOKANE, Wash. —
Cities in China are starting to ease restrictions after a two-month quarantine due to a large coronavirus outbreak.
Tim Reaves, a Spokane native living in Nan Jing, China, has spent two months in his small apartment. Just last week, he returned to shopping and eating at restaurants normally.
During the initial interview with KREM 2 on Feb. 13, Reaves described the city as empty and eerie. He passed the time reading books, learning a new language and connecting with family back home.
At the time of the interview, the United States only had 15 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Now there are over 189,000 confirmed cases and the number keeps growing by the hour.
Reaves is adjusting to normal life in Nan Jing.
“It kind of happened suddenly. A couple shops opened up and then literally two days later everything was back open. People are still scanning temperatures,” said Reaves.
Although businesses are back open and people are starting to fill the streets again, the public still wears mandatory masks.
“Social behavior has changed a bit because people used to stand really close to you in line but that doesn’t happen anymore,” he said.
On the other side of the two-month quarantine, Reaves is offering hope to his friends and family back in America.
“It is something that can be controlled. The situation isn’t hopeless. It’s going to take a big community effort to beat this. If America is united to solve a problem I think we are capable of anything. We need to get everyone on board,” he said.
Watching social distancing work first hand he expresses the importance of staying home and and taking it extremely seriously. He also offers advice to those who are still looking for toilet paper.
“Honestly get a bidet. You don’t need all that toilet paper,” he said. “Be kind to one another because we are all dealing with our own personal drama that others are not aware of. Keep that in mind when you deal with people.”