“We know better than anyone else,”Wuhan people handle new cases

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In roughly 48 hours after only seven domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases were detected, Wuhan, a city of 11 million, announced citywide nucleic acid testing, canceled offline education activities and halved tourist flows at major scenic spots. To other parts of the world that are used to hundreds or even tens of thousands of daily infection cases, the reaction may seem like making a mountain out of molehill. But for Wuhan, it all makes so much sense. 

A few hours after Wuhan authorities announced the seven domestic cases on Monday, Wuhan's local health code crashed, as torrents of visitors checking to see if they had contacted with confirmed cases pushed it beyond its limits.

"My heart was in my mouth before I finally saw the system shows I was safe," said Wuhan resident Luo Ning. Yet she still applied to work from home on Tuesday, saying it is "better not go around now, it's dangerous outside."

The fresh outbreak of the invisible virus is like a bombshell to a city that has already been severely traumatized, although it had not reported any new domestic cases since June 2020. The usually crowded subways and buses have been empty for the past two days. In shopping malls, shop assistants far outnumbered visitors and some restaurants have closed temporarily, several Wuhan residents told the Global Times.

"The look of the city, suddenly so empty, threw me back to the first days of coronavirus," said Luo.

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A video went viral online on Wednesday showing a Wuhan taxi driver, wearing a facial mask and a pair of gloves, chasing and spraying disinfectant on a passenger as she was getting in his vehicle. The driver did not stop until the passenger lifted her feet to have the soles of her shoes sterilized. 

"People started to stockpile food, disinfectant and masks, but in an orderly fashion. Nobody was snatching stuff or anything," said Chen Jingyuan, a local resident in her 30s, who described Wuhan residents as coping with the flare-up "in an organized manner… because Wuhan people are quite experienced in dealing with a situation like this."

Wuhan government officials assured the public since Tuesday that the city has a sufficient stock of daily necessities, and that prices for those commodities will not go up.

The Central China city swiftly kicked off citywide testing on Tuesday. Li Tao, deputy secretary-general of Wuhan city government, said at a Tuesday conference that Wuhan is an "important transportation hub," thus the citywide testing will "eradicate hidden danger."

Wuhan government announced on Wednesday night that 2.52 million samples were collected as of Wednesday noon. 

Cheng Cai, a doctor at Wuhan Tongji Hospital who fought the virus for more than two months in 2020, told the Global Times that some doctors and nurses from his hospital were sent to conduct nucleic acid testing for local residents. 

Zheng Jing, another Wuhan doctor, pulled all-nighters from Tuesday to Wednesday to do the COVID-19 test for residents. "Several thousand samples can be taken within one hour," said Zheng, who joked that the process is like having a "free sauna," as medical workers are enveloped in thick personal protective suits despite Wuhan's notoriously hot and humid summer. "We can't complain. I know the city can't afford to another outbreak."

Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, is the city that bore the earliest and heaviest blow of COVID-19 in China. The city imposed a 76-day lockdown from January 23 to April 8 in 2020 and had not recorded any local cases since June 2020. It had its first round of citywide test in June 2020, which found 300 asymptomatic patients. The city cleared all confirmed and asymptomatic cases after June 15, 2020.

In addition to the seven confirmed cases, Wuhan detected nine new cases on Wednesday, and the local health authority said the same day that the Wuhan flare-up is caused by the Delta variant. The virus sequencing is highly similar to that from the epidemic outbreak in East China's Jiangsu Province.

Li Tao said on Wednesday that Wuhan has guaranteed 31,300 isolation rooms and promised another 9,000 for the next three days. The city government announced on Wednesday it will lock down 56 residential communities and 11 construction sites linked to detected cases.

"The seemingly hilarious panic of Wuhan people should not be chided at or mocked. We are the ones who experienced the most helpless and darkest times, we obeyed the mask mandate longer than any city… we are even prepared to stay put in our houses again if the government requires it," a Wuhan resident surnamed Dong told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Dong said that Wuhan people's response precipitated by the unforgettable start to 2020. "We know better than anyone else how to protect ourselves," he said.

Source:

Editor: Crystal H

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