Visiting family has not been easy during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on November 11, I made it back from Beijing to my hometown in Dangtu County (more than 1,060 km apart) of Ma'anshan City in Anhui Province after going more than a year of not having seen my family.   

The scene in Dangtu was a contrast to that in Beijing, a megacity. Masks are not mandatory in this small county.  

After testing negative three times in just as many days, as per the policy for those arriving from Beijing, my parents and I went to see my 86-year-old grandmother in the neighboring county-level district of Bowang. She and other villagers moved to a town in the district last year and their village has been transformed into an industrial park. This kind of relocation and urbanization has been continuing throughout the last two years despite the challenges brought about by strict COVID-19 containment measures.  

One of my classmates from primary school now owns a company in the district that manufactures alloy materials. He told me that although the company is facing some supply and demand problems, the district's factories are running at full capacity and production had only been briefly suspended at the very onset of the pandemic in early 2020. This is consistent with media reports from other areas of China and with my own experience on a work trip to Zuoquan County in Shanxi Province.  

These areas have managed to balance development with pandemic control and, in general, successfully implemented dynamic zero-COVID measures. Current policies are helping to prevent the spread of the virus from larger cities to these areas, yet it remains uncertain whether they would have the funds and medical resources to cope with a large-scale outbreak—should one occur.  

"Our country has spent so much money to protect us in the past three years," my father said. Many people in China’s vast rural areas and small cities and counties rarely express their opinions on social media. Regarding the current COVID-19 policies, many of the locals share opinions similar to that of my father given their lives and wellbeing have not been severely impacted by the virus.  

Of course, people's opinions and experiences differ. Recently, a widespread debate on social media saw people expressing their opinions on how to improve the policies and lessen their adverse impacts. Indeed, as the pathogenicity of the Omicron variant wanes and more people are vaccinated, policy modifications are in order. Excessive control measures should be stopped and daily supplies, as well as public services, should be guaranteed.  

On November 11, the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Against COVID-19 released a notice outlining measures to optimize pandemic control. While implementing these new measures is not easy, one positive sign is that residents started actively negotiating with those tasked with their implementation. Many videos circulating online have since shown Beijing residents, in line with the notice and the law, rejecting unreasonable lockdown measures and showing how their efforts have been met with respect.   

The notice requires more precise identification of high-risk areas, with lockdowns limited to specific buildings and not randomly expanded. For example, on November 27, three days after I had returned to Beijing from Anhui, two people tested positive in the building where I live. Whereas in the past my whole building, or perhaps even my whole residential compound, would have been locked down, this time only the affected floors in my building were quarantined.  

Optimizing prevention and control measures to meet the needs of different places will require some time. The needs of small cities, large cities, cities running well and cities facing difficulties vary, and all need to be considered.  

We should not only protect people from the pandemic but also rely on them to take an active part in fighting the virus together. As one widely applauded commentary from the communications department of Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China stated on November 29, "People should come first, not containment."  

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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