Coming Out on the Other Side of Coronavirus

I was Facetiming with my niece recently, home on spring break with her two girls, and she asked whether the kids in China know what's going on. She meant what was going on in the States as people began to self-isolate.
They have lived what's going on, I told my niece. They aren't concerned about what is happening in the States or in France where I live because they have been quarantined for more than seven weeks.

And what happened during that isolation? More than 81,000 cases of coronavirus and only 3,255 deaths in China. Their quarantine made a huge different. Italy, slower to quarantine, has 47,000 cases of the virus and 4,032 deaths already. (Stats from Worldometers and unfortunately they will have gone up by the time you check it)
Slowly, through the eyes of its children, I see China emerging from the virus.
I teach English online to Chinese children, one on one.

 I start most classes with "What did you do today?" For months now, the answer has been: "I stayed home."
Recently though, Justin set a white transformer in front of the screen and said, "I played transformers in the park with my friend."
I was so happy for him.
A new student, Milo, dressed in a tan shirt and a red kerchief, the Chinese equivalent of boy scouts I suppose, joyously told me, "I picked strawberries today!"
My heart soared, imagining these children who have been isolated in their apartments for nearly two months going into the sunshine and pulling red berries from the vine, tasting the sunshine in each one. And I bet they are the sweetest berries since the skies are clear of pollution from the lack of factories running.
Henry told me that the weather is sunny and the skies are sooo blue!
One thing I noticed when the students were in lockdown was that parents had taken to cutting their children's hair. What's the first place many of the students go? To get a haircut.
William told me he went out for the first time, but the barber shop was closed so his hair is still a bit shaggy. Jacob wore closely cut hair, looking like himself again with his shy smile as he nodded that he had gone to get a haircut.
What does this mean for those of us who are seeing restaurants and bars close, stores shutting their doors and government orders to stay home?
It means that we can come through on the other side.
We can stay in our homes, only venturing out for groceries or medicine or solitary exercise if we don't live in big cities.
We can video chat and play card games and do puzzles and watch Netflix until our brains are numb. We can clean our homes and put up those shelves we always meant to get to.
We can write novels and compose music and draw pictures.
We can have conversations and make love.
The sun will be shining in mid-May when we slowly emerge from our homes again, hopefully with as good a result as the Chinese had.