Kiwi mum tells of China coronavirus ‘apocalypse’
A Kiwi mum and her children have left their home in China, while her husband remains there amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Carley Dunne said she could see the ‘‘writing on the wall’’ when deciding to return to New Zealand from Xiamen with her daughters Zoe, 8, and Daisy, 5.
Her pilot husband, who did not want to be named, has stayed.
The three arrived in Christchurch – via Korea, then Australia – on January 26. Cases had been reported in Xiamen, an island city of 4 million, since they left. After visiting her father in North Canterbury, Dunne took the children to her mother’s home in Oamaru, North Otago, where they will start school on Monday.
She wanted to avoid getting trapped in China for what could be months. ‘‘I could just see the writing on the wall that more cities would get shut down.
‘‘It feels like an apocalypse over there. They are just desperately trying so hard to stop it.’’
Dunne worried about her husband but his company was looking after him and ‘‘he is being extra careful’’. Job security was important and with restricted travel, they were unsure how safe his job was. ‘‘Flights have been probably halved because there is not the demand.’’
Dunne said there were cleaners ‘‘everywhere’’ sanitising door handles and lift buttons, streets being bleached, and playgrounds being cleaned daily. There was body temperature monitoring before entering most places – even Starbucks. Everyone was panicbuying food and masks, she said.
The masks were a ‘‘novelty’’ for her girls but any longer than the occasional trip out of the house, then the two-day flight home, and they would have struggled. ‘‘We are just hoping it gets over quickly, so we can get home and back to life.’’
The family moved to China in November 2018. ‘‘It is our home now. I do want to go back.’’ They will likely wait until schools are allowed back without masks.
Chinese schools were due to open on February 2 but the Government postponed that until February 17. Dunne believed the schools would be closed until the virus was under control.