'It is nasty over here': Expats in China struggle with lost wages, abandoned and hungry pets, and the looming threat of quarantines amid coronavirus outbreak

• Expats in China are facing an assortment of issues, including economic uncertainty, debilitating restrictions, and the looming threat of quarantines, as the country deals with the coronavirus.
• "Nobody enters and nobody leaves unless you have a special permit from the government to leave the city," said Jovan Vazquez who lives in Zhejiang province, where drastic measures are in place to control the spread of the virus.
• Jenny Coulson in Shenzhen, China, reported an uptick in abandoned pets at her animal rescue as people give in to the paranoia of cross-contamination.
• Jym Cotton, who lives in the currently deserted tourist destination of Sanya, can still leave his house freely but is certain that the virus "has affected everyone in some way."

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Jovan Vazquez has taken to carrying a thermometer with him every time he leaves his house. That's his attempt at avoiding being hauled off to a hospital or being quarantined every time his temperature fluctuates.

Originally from South Carolina, he is now living as an expat in China, which is in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

Vazquez told Business Insider that officials in his residential community and others are checking if people have a fever every time they try to go home.

"The equipment [is] not really accurate as I have been read as having too high of a temperature at [times], then too low of a temperature," he said. "I have a thermometer that takes the reading from the ear, which I have used multiple times to prove I am not ill. It's pretty scary that if you have a slight fever, say from the common cold, you will not be able to enter your own home."

Vazquez lives with his wife and 17-month-old son in Haining, in Zhejiang province, which has recently made headlines for adopting severe measures, including banning weddings and funerals and locking people into their homes, to halt the spread of the virus.

On Friday, the National Health Commission in Beijing reported more than 31,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 630 deaths.

Less than one million people call Haining home, and the city was coronavirus-free until earlier this week, Vazquez said. One case was reported in a sub-city called Chang'an, and, by Friday, that number had climbed to four.

'Nobody enters and nobody leaves'

Local officials responded by closing down Haining.

"Nobody enters and nobody leaves unless you have a special permit from the government to leave the city," Vazquez said, adding that grocery stores are open for a few hours a day along with some restaurants and pharmacies "but nothing else."

Vazquez uses WeChat to connect with other expats in the area and said the collective belief is that "it doesn't take a medical doctor to know that this virus is a big deal. And due to the population density, it's going to continue to infect people."

Reports emerged on Thursday of officials in four cities in Zhejiang - an area of more than 30 million residents - giving households one so-called passport each.

Another expat, Jeff Sinner, said the restrictions are mirrored in Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, where he lives.

"I was given a ticket with the date on it that I need to give my security guards before I go out to buy vegetables," he said. "Also, only one person from each residence is able to leave the community.

"Two days ago, I was able to leave my community easily but when I wanted to [return], I had to show my passport and get my temperature taken before I would be allowed in."

Sinner, who is waiting to hear when the middle school where he teaches will reopen and he will be allowed to return to work, said he has also seen trucks driving through the city, "spraying a disinfectant all over the place." People are confined to their homes from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. while they do that, he said.

"It is nasty over here right now," he mused.

Cross-contamination fears prompt people to ditch pets

Jenny Coulson, of Australia, is having an equally tough time in Shenzhen, China but for slightly different reasons.

She and her partner, Sachin Patel, from India, run Karuna Rescue, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates dogs and cats. The pair are currently taking care of 120 animals and that number is ballooning every day, which poses serious challenges when it comes to finding enough pet food.

Initial reports blamed wet markets for the coronavirus and said that the illness likely jumped from a snake to a human, although cases of human-to-human infection are now being reported.

As a result, Coulson said, "many households are abandoning their pets, due to fear of cross-contamination."

People who have contracted coronavirus are also reaching out to Karuna Rescue since "they desperately need someone to take in their pets as they are taken off to hospital. And migrant workers have been locked down in other cities, unable to return to their pets in their homes in Shenzhen."

An Instagram video shows a masked Patel searching for a cat named CanCan, whose owner "is in lockdown in a village in the middle of China somewhere. He's alone, and no one will come out to feed him." The good news is CanCan was found safely and Coulson and Patel are now caring for him.

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By contrast, the coronavirus hasn't overwhelmed Jym Cotton with work. It's emptied all the classrooms in which he works as a private teacher.

The crisis has hurt his ability to make money, he said. "I'm surviving on a few online classes that allow me to make a little income.

Tourist haunts lie deserted

Cotton, a former landscaper from Florida, lives in Sanya, a popular tourist destination in the Hainan province. He said it now resembles a ghost town. Everything from theaters to parks and bus depots to public restrooms has been shut down.

The main drag into Cotton's housing complex is normally plagued with gridlock traffic all day. But now the streets lie "barren," he observed.

"I'm not sure the threat to human life is as bad as the pandemonium surrounding these events suggest, but, in reality, to those who live here, this outbreak has affected everyone in some way," he said.

Cotton home-schools his four daughters, who keep him busy with badminton and family time. They are still allowed to venture outside freely and Cotton, although worried about the economic impact of the coronavirus not only on his family but all of China, remains hopeful.

"I've lived through, and seen a lot here, in my 20 years," he said. "I'm sure we will be getting through this current crisis as well."

Have you been personally impacted by the coronavirus epidemic? Is your city or community on the front lines of this disease? Have you or someone you know been tested or diagnosed? We want to hear your story. Please email rmahbubani@businessinsider.com.

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