I learned so many good lessons during quarantine

Looking back at 2020, "isolation" is both my keyword and a summary of the year.

In late March, the COVID-19 outbreak forced me to leave a training program for reporters overseas and come back to China early.

My flight landed in Qingdao, a coastal city in the eastern province of Shandong, where I started 14 days of quarantine.

Staying indoors for two weeks felt like a long time, but thanks to the hotel's considerate staff members, who did their best to meet my daily needs, as well as my family and friends, who tried to "accompany" me via video chats, it was not as unbearable as I'd feared.

On April 9, after two negative nucleic acid tests, I completed the quarantine period and returned home to Beijing.

On arrival, I contacted my community and informed the staff members of my situation. They recommended I stayed home for a week before moving around freely.

During that time, a volunteer called every day to record my temperature. She also brought me for a nucleic acid test, which was negative.

Six months later, during the National Day holiday, I revisited Qingdao. However, about a week after my trip, a couple of COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the city.

As millions of tourists had visited Qingdao during the holiday, and fall is a season when illness prevails, people who had traveled there since late September were recommended to self-isolate for a few days to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

It was deja vu. Fortunately, having had the previous experience, I was calm. I had a nucleic acid test, ordered some storable food online and informed my community.

This time, all sides－government, people, communities and disease prevention and control workers－were even better prepared and more experienced than they had been before.

The source of the Qingdao cases was identified within a few days and the situation was quickly brought under control. No more than a week after starting my self-isolation, I was free to go outdoors.

Looking back, I did miss out on some things because of my periods of isolation: I was unable to say goodbye to friends I had made during the training program; I had to cancel my post-training vacation; and I wasn't by my mother's side after she had surgery.

However, they also confirmed that I was healthy, and in certain ways, I may have protected other people.

Also, during those barren periods, I realized that many things I took for granted, such as meeting friends, traveling and gathering with my family, were so precious.

I swore that I would do these things more enthusiastically when the epidemic finally ends. I hope that day comes soon.