Comic relief and cat videos help expats cope

Education

While Henry and her family have not encountered any difficult problems or situations so far, her current concern is to figure out how to ensure continuity of her daughter's education, with schools setting up e-learning for students staying at home.

"Of course, we, as parents, will have to help facilitate that in a more hands-on way than, you know, just sending her off to school for the day where they have all of the resources," she said. "It's the early days for this yet, lessons just started so we are trying to work it out. We'll see how it goes."

On joining support groups like Staying Put Support on WeChat, Henry thinks that the group has been great, and it is of comfort to her knowing that the members are all going through it together and that they can keep each other company.

"A handful of other groups have been helpful, too. For example, the one for Americans I'm in has lots of well-informed people, and also some staff from our consulate check in there to make sure everyone is getting up-to-date, correct information pertinent to US citizens," she said.

"I am definitely being judicious though about what groups I engage with, and I have 'walked away' from ones where there was negativity, or people being bitchy, or sharing 'news' from unreliable sources. I ain't got time for that."

Hamons agrees as well. "It's helpful to have groups that aren't focused on every little piece of information that comes out," she said. "It's good for one's mental health, too."