BEIJING – The coronavirus came first in the depths of winter. As with so many places afterward, the change seeped in gradually.
Cold winds drove ice and snow between skyscrapers as Beijing's people waddled out into a scarier and scarier world to buy the basics.
Before the outbreak, residents in the city of 21.5 million already ran on ecommerce delivery, residents wore masks year-round for smog and surveillance ran rampant.
To bundle up then and silently drift on an electric scooter across the frozen, empty streets was eerie. Everyone hired more security guards and equipped them with temperature guns.