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Wuhan Stories from the Quarantine: Day 1
Translator｜ Fei
Wuhan was quarantined on January 23, 2020 . In response, Sandwichina has launched its Stories of the Quarantine series, inviting contributions from native Wuhaners and individuals currently residing in the quarantine zone to tell the stories of their everyday life during the Coronavirus outbreak.
As soon as we called for contributions, we received responses from nearly 100 friends and readers -- A woman who detailed the agonizing process of deciding to return home from Beijing for Spring Festival, a high school junior visiting relatives in Wuhan with her mother, a wife monitoring the outbreak from the United states, a mother listening to the constant sound of sirens outside of her window, a construction worker who, today, is setting out to construct a specialized hospital center…. Currently, we have 50 writers contributing to this project, telling the story of their daily lives from the quarantine zone.
In the coming days, we will try to publish a selection of their stories every day. In order to go beyond the numbers and document the everyday experiences of everyday people living at the epicenter of this outbreak.
For this first post, we have selected five vignettes from life in a quarantined Wuhan.
After the tears,
a daughter returns home
By: Freezing point
Location: Wuhan
Occupation: Analyst
The next morning when I woke up, news about the Wuhan outbreak was everywhere. It was overwhelming. On my way to work, I got caught up on all of the latest news, and then posted a joke in my WeChat Moments, “So…. Can everyone wish me luck? I’m about to head to the epicenter of the outbreak.”
From that day forth, all of the group chats on my phone exploded, and all kinds of news -- fake and real -- flooded my screen. Everyone seemed to go on high alert at the same time. Many of my former classmates and friends who lived in or near Wuhan began talking about returning their train tickets and staying away, but I never wavered. I wanted to go home to be with my parents.
The three of us have always sat down together for New Year’s Eve dinner. My mother and father would rise early to prepare ingredients. Even though it was just the three of us, every corner our New Year’s Eve dinner would be packed with all kinds of delicacies. Dinner was always lively and animated, full of talk and laughter. Afterwards, the three of us would sit on the sofa and drink tea, eat more snacks, open red packets on WeChat, and watch the Spring Festival Gala. Though fireworks have been banned across the nation, we still waited until midnight to welcome the lunar new year. Such an ordinary celebration, yet it has always been of most paramount importance in our family -- a tradition to end the year.
But under the current circumstances, it wasn’t an easy decision to return home. After the 21st, people started warning me not to go home. I heard all kinds of sensational rumors, as if going to Wuhan would turn me into some sort of virus infected “biochemical weapon.” I kept myself updated on everything, and advised my parents to wear masks and avoid going outdoors. I had a clear plan in my head. I told myself, I was quite healthy, I would take all necessary precautions, avoid crowds, monitor my health…. If I really became infected, then I would go to the hospital at once, to avoid passing it on to someone else….
Yet faced with all the talk around me, I still felt a huge weight of guilt. Every time they talked about “people from Wuhan” I felt like their fingers were pointed at me. In their eyes, every person who travelled to Wuhan was a “viral bomb,” who might explode at any time. I couldn’t decide if they were advising me out of concern for me or for themselves.
Thankfully, some friends told me they understood where I was coming from. A friend who studied epidemiology told me about her experiences with the H1N1 swine flu. She told me there was no need to panic, but I must take all necessary precautions. Another friend told me, “If it were me, I’d want to go home too. No real justification. Would I be scared? Yes, I would. But if you asked me why I wanted to return, I’d answer ‘because that’s where my home is.’”
That evening, I cried on the bus, the whole way to my apartment. I knew it was a massive risk, going home, and I understood why everyone’s concerns. But in that moment, I just wanted to go home. I sat in the farthest corner of the bus, wearing my mask and staring at my reflection in the window. My tears seeped into my mask, and no one noticed me.
I made another post on WeChat Moments: Each person’s sorrows and joys are not interchangeable, I just want to ring in the new year with my mother and father.
On the afternoon of January 22, I took a train back to Wuhan, wearing an uncomfortable, suffocating N95 mask the entire time. I arrived at 11 PM that evening, and had a bowl of pork rib and lotus root soup. I messaged my close friends that I had arrived safely, and fell asleep. The next morning, all of the messages on my phone told me the same thing -- Wuhan was quarantined.
I thanked each of my friends for their messages of concern and worry, but in my heart I felt a sense of calm. I even thought, thank goodness I returned. Or else I would be stuck in Beijing alone, and my parents would be “locked away” in the quarantine zone. We would be separated from each other.
I don’t know what will happen with the virus, and I don’t know what kind of prejudice I will face when I return to Beijing. But in this moment, I’m with my parents, in the home where I grew up. So I am not afraid.
A mother of a two year old
whose husband is stuck
outside the city
By: Plantain Ono - San
Location: Wuhan
Occupation: Teacher
I had been sending information about the epidemic into my family’s group chat, but none of the elders paid it any mind. It was just like that popular article said, “three million mothers and fathers refuse to wear a mask.” People only began to understand the severity of the situation when Doctor Zhong Nanshan announced via the media that the virus could be transmitted from person to person, and the mayor of Wuhan answered questions about the Coronavirus at a press conference. The government also announced that masks were mandatory in public spaces. That was the point when my family members all began wearing masks. At 4AM, everyone was still reporting their status as “safe and sound” in my work group chats. None of us were sleeping. Of course, who could sleep at such a time?
After the quarantine was announced, I guessed that there would be a huge rush to buy up daily necessities, gas up their case, buy food…. And that’s what happened.
I left the house at 10:30 in the morning, but I was already too late. I wasn’t able to buy much, just 30 eggs and a bottle of soy sauce from the shop downstairs, and 1.5 kgs of tangerines. When I saw the ginger vinegar, I thought about buying some for my husband because he loves it as sauce for his dumplings. After I picked up the bottle, I took a few steps and put it back. Because my husband cannot home. The flight he had booked for Wuhan had been cancelled. I suddenly missed him.
Then I went to a girlfriend’s house to pick up some masks. None of the online shops were delivering. Just the previous night, people in the group chats were going in together for group purchases, and then all of the shipping services were put on hold. So I had to drive to my friend’s house for “emergency relief.” She said she only had the medical masks on hand, and asked me if I still wanted them. “Of course!” I replied.
100% of the pedestrians on the street were wearing masks. Everyone had serious and guarded expressions on their faces. If anyone coughed or sounded unwell, brows would furrow, and a space would form around them. This atmosphere on the streets matched the weather -- pale, colorless, grey -- like a thick pane of glass that could not be wiped clean. A desperate plight.
My friend, wearing a mask, chatted with me while standing at my passenger side door. The usual phrases, “be careful of your health, take all the precautions, don’t go outside.” We discussed our families, and when we were done, we both felt unexpected tears welling in our eyes.
“There’s no such thing as an ‘angel in white.’ Just a bunch of kids who’ve changed their clothes, imitating their elders, trying to save people, fighting with Death to save one life at a time….”
Screenshot of an article posted online. Title: “A Nurse from Wuhan: There’s no such thing as an ‘angel in white.’ Just a bunch of kids who’ve changed their clothes.”
Text: [#WuhanNurseWeChatMoments#] Head Nurse from Wuhan Central Hospital posted this in her moments: “There’s no such thing as an ‘angel in white.’ Just a bunch of kids who’ve changed their clothes, imitating their elders, trying to save people, fighting with Death to save one life at a time….” Salute doctors, nurses, and medical workers! Share! Pray for peace!
There are no “warriors for the people,” just other peoples’ sons, rushing headlong into danger, going from home to home begging the elderly to put on a mask and be careful, to please cancel all gatherings, and avoid the Mahjong parlors….
I am thankful for those on the frontline, and the sacrifices they have made for us.
On the drive back home, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I wiped my eyes after coming home, so my family wouldn’t worry. I was still young during the SARS outbreak, and didn’t know anything. Now I am a mother, with elderly above me and the young below me. I am truly frightened.
Around 6 PM, another of my friends brought me some medicine rumored to be preventative. The kind that is also sold out at pharmacies. She wore a mask and stood far from me to “make the delivery.” I hope I won’t need it, and my family won’t need it either.
Because I didn’t sleep the night before, I napped for 2 hours in the afternoon. After I woke up, my daughter brought me tangerines she had peeled herself, and a book to read. I posted in my WeChat moments: “If we can’t go out, let’s try hard to be happy then.” Many of my friends “liked” my post. This is probably a sentiment shared by most people of my age in Wuhan. Since we can’t go out, then let’s protect our homes and our loved ones, and let’s try our best to stay positive.
That night, watching my child sleep so peacefully, for a moment, I forgot about the chaos around us. If she could sleep until New Year’s Eve (January 24, 2020) and wake to find her father had come home, and the three of us could sit down to watch the Spring Festival Gala together, how wonderful that would be.
A girl who drove 60 km
to give her friend a ride
By: FF
Location: Wuhan, Donghu District
Occupation: Taobao shop owner
I immediately messaged a friend who worked for the metro, and she told me the stoppage would last for at least 9 days. Though I’d been tracking the virus every day, but I never imagined it would have any impact on our daily lives. Today was the first time I realized the severity of the virus, and my first reaction was to go to the supermarket to stock up on necessities.
Though I love sleeping in, I scrambled out of bed. My father and I both put on masks and drove to a nearby supermarket. Once we arrived, it was as crowded as we imagined, and there weren’t any shopping carts left. The lines stretched long in front of every weighing station for fruits and vegetables.
To save time, we didn’t buy anything that required waiting. When I saw that the shelves for noodles and ramen were empty, I really experienced a moment of panic. I felt extremely conflicted. Everything had happened so fast, overnight. Just yesterday, I was thinking we would be fine as long as we were careful leaving the house, but now it seemed the virus had developed beyond what we had imagined.
Dad and I quickly purchased some food and daily necessities and left the supermarket. Once we neared our neighborhood, dad went to the little shop near our complex to buy some vegetables, but most were sold out. So we chose some from the leftovers and went home.
We ate a simple lunch at home, meanwhile, I kept receiving reports about the virus from my friends on WeChat. Everyone was sharing information about the Coronavirus, posting photos of empty shelves in the supermarkets, lines at the gas stations.
A couple days ago, many of my friends who were working outside the city announced they were cancelling their tickets. At the time, I was thinking it was such a pity I wouldn’t get to see them over Spring Festival this year. But today, I saw the news that many of the tour groups from Wuhan would not be able to return, and they would be stuck passing the New Year far away from home.
I suddenly remembered my friend who worked for the metro, and asked her if she had a ride home that night. She told me she probably wouldn’t be able to get a taxi after work, and still didn’t know how she was getting home, so I told her I would go to pick her up. It was the least I could do in such times.
At 5 PM, I drove to Longquan Metro Station to pick up my friend. Traffic was light from Wuchang to Hankou. No cars on the road, and you could count the number of taxis on one hand. There were no pedestrians either, once in a while, you’d see a delivery man on a scooter. We talked about the epidemic and her work the whole way home. The metro workers had it tough too. Though transportation had stopped, they still had to report for duty every day. After I took her home, I quickly returned home as well. Though the drive was long, I was happy that my friend was safely home.
I’ve been in a haze all day, from morning till night. I think I haven’t adjusted to the inconveniences of the epidemic. Every few minutes, there are updates about the virus on my WeChat, news about Shanghai sending doctors to Wuhan...really touching.
Recently, I’ve been watching “The Good Doctor.” It reminds me of the medical staff working through the Coronavirus, and the heavy burden they’ve shouldered. And in these important times, what can an average person do? Perhaps we do not need to stand on the front lines like those doctors and nurses, and we may not even need to be at our jobs.
I suppose what we can do is to take care of our family and friends, to give others the support they need during this time. A greeting, a blessing, gifts of love and encouragement. I am thankful for everyone who asked after my health and wellbeing. Recently, I’ve found myself crying at everything, any message of concern from a friend makes me weepy.
Though I do not know how long this epidemic will last, but as a Wuhan girl, born and raised, I believe my city will persist.
A mother who decided to stay
By: Ruochen
Location: Wuhan
Occupation: Stay at home mom
As soon as we checked online, we saw that all flights had stopped, trains had stopped. There was no way to leave. Later, some friends found out I was still in Wuhan, and they told me I could order a taxi to a nearby city or town, and take a transfer flight or train. My older sister also called to ask if we were leaving. We hesitated over the decision. By noon, a friend from Japan messaged me, “Donghua, I don’t understand why you haven’t left!” I could sense her urgency from the other side of the screen.
Yes. Why hadn’t we left yet? I covered my face and tried to think.
First, it was too rushed. There are five of us, and three children. Picking up and leaving right away wasn’t an option. Plus, my second eldest was still at my sister’s. Second, surely the quarantine was meant to lock down movement. If we all rushed out at once, wouldn’t that be counterproductive? Third, my father was sick in bed. Due to overcrowded hospitals, we still had no idea where he would be transferred to today. I didn’t want to leave without knowing when I could be back.
I felt calm at the time. Thinking, “what will be will be, as long as the family is together.” But later that afternoon, the situation became more and more alarming. I began wondering if I’d made the wrong decision. I wasn’t concerned about myself so much as I didn’t want my family to worry, or for my kids to be affected. So I tried to calm myself and pray. I remembered the Caixin reporter Xiao Hui. She had been interviewing people at the heart of the epidemic last night, and she hadn’t known either. Though she’d been wearing protective gear during the interview, she decided to stay behind in Wuhan and self-quarantine. I was with my family, but she was all alone. When I thought of her, I began to cry, and kept praying….
A Doctor Staying Behind
on the “Semi Front Lines”
By: Good is borne of love
Location: Wuhan city, Hanyang District
Occupation: Doctor
On the evening of January 21,
we decided to return to Wuhan from Guiyang
I studied medicine, and have been through the 2003 SARS outbreak. At the time, I worked at the Shanxi Family Planning Research Institute. At the time, I was somewhat involved in controlling the SARS outbreak. So when we started hearing about the Wuhan virus in December, I had a sense of dejavu that reminded me of SARS. When the health officials announced that it wasn’t transmissible from person to person, I had a feeling of dread.
I was born in Shanxi, and have been working in Hubei province for many years. The hospital I work at specializes in IVF and assisted reproduction. When Doctor Zhong Nanshan announced the virus could be passed from person to person, and that medical personnel had been infected, all of us knew the situation was serious.
Because I work at a specialized hospital, my work mainly involves infertility and families who cannot have children. There are no emergency services at my hospital, and the staff set up some measures to deal with the epidemic. We moved back any appointments that were not urgent, and called the families one by one. If they were outside of Wuhan, we called to tell them not to travel to the city. For patients who were already in treatment, we tried to adopt the safest measures to complete their treatment. We started this process as early as January 19. In addition, we made arrangements for staff. For staff from Hubei that did not reside in Wuhan, we suggested they return home and self-quarantine. Every day, we asked everyone to report their temperatures in the work group chats, and if anyone reported a fever, we sent them to a nearby clinic.
Currently, there are about 20 people still at the hospital. As the persons in charge, myself and the other directors volunteered to stay behind.
These last few days, we have had surgeries every day. This morning, I did four egg retrievals and seven transplants. These surgeries will decrease over the next few days. We are trying our best to give our patients a smooth and safe experience. As for the cause and effect of the virus, I don’t want to say anything controversial, but as an average citizen, an ordinary man, and a doctor, I really feel the mercilessness of the virus. All that an ordinary person can do is to protect themselves with scientific measures. Wear a mask and wash your hands frequently.
Sandwichina is sharing stories of everyday people from Wuhan and their daily life within the quarantine zone.