China Against Racist Virus

This is a series of stories of common people living in Wuhan---a city suffers most from the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Participants in our group translated these stories into English. We hope this will help people understand more about what is happening to common people in China.

Credit to Weibo user @卖大叔的白菜 on Feb 4th, 2020

A 90-year-old woman left an elegantly hand-written note for her 64-year-old son who is infected with the Novel Coronavirus and is now hospitalised and quarantined. ‘My son,

Keep faith, stay strong and defeat the disease.

Follow doctors’ treatment and advice. (I know) it is uncomfortable to wear a respirator, but endure it for now as it will make it easier to cough up.

If the blood pressure is normal, ask the doctor to help you to put on the nasal cannula.

I forgot to bring cash today, but I’ve borrowed 500 yuan from Dr Wang.

You can ask people to buy some essentials for you.’ The old lady had stayed in the emergency room for four days to look after her son. She had barely any sleep and ate only instant noodles those few days. The doctors were very sympathetic and promised that her son would have priority once there is an available bed. After her son was hospitalised, she queued for a whole night to get a CT scan for herself. After a restless night, she immediately went and waited outside of her son’s quarantine room, although she couldn’t even see him through the secured doors. She asked the nurse to pass her words to her son, encouraging him to stay strong. At the end of a day she could not even go home by herself: she didn’t have any close relatives in the city and the public transportation was suspended. Fortunately, the friend of the Weibo user@卖大叔的白菜offered to give the old lady a lift back home. After the old lady arrived home, she insisted on paying 100 yuan for the ride as a way to say thank you.

The good news is the CT scan of the old lady currently shows no sign of infection.

However, her son’s condition is now critical.

On the early morning of 7th February, some Wuhan citizens brought flowers and cards to Wuhan Central Hospital, where Dr Li Wenliang passed away the night before. They paid tribute to and mourned for the whistleblower doctor.

Among these condolence cards, one anonymous card had these words, quoted from Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin:

‘Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death.

– With deep condolences from the Ashamed.’ Image credits to The Paper 澎湃新闻

Wuhan stories (3)武汉故事（三）

Photos and story credit to Weibo user @计六一六

The “Unusual” Orders — the life of a delivery rider in the Lockdown Wuhan. “Contrary to some people thinking, Wuhan may be a ‘dead’ city, in every house and behind every window, people are living there.” Ji said.

It has been weeks since the lockdown of Wuhan, which inevitably posed inconvenience and challenges to many people.More and more residents opt for delivery service to get grocery shopping and food delivery. Ji, a man at his thirties, is one of those many riders who make a living by delivering food and running errands. He nicknames himself as Lao Ji (Old Ji). Lao Ji is not a local, but from a nearby town. Although his plan to stay in Wuhan during Lunar New Year to earn some extra money has been completely changed, he finds his job now important to the city and to many people here.

Among the increasing number of orders, some “unusual” orders have popped up. Some orders requested him to buy N95 masks or stock up instant noodles. Some orders were made anonymously by warm-hearted citizens to hospitalstaff. He also received an order from a woman to deliver a home-made meal to her doctor-husband in the hospital. One special request was from a pet owner whose cat escaped from a boarding cattery. The owner left Wuhan before the lockdown and had to ask Lao Ji to helpsearch the cat. The cat had a cute name Nian Gao (glutinous rice cake). “We set out really early in the morning and promised we’d do our best. We searched up and down in each floor of the building and didn’t get a snap of it until we reached the terrace of the 33rdfloor.” Lao Ji said. They started with dried fish and cat food to lure the cat, who seemed uninterested. Then they made a cat toy stick by wrapping some socks on some wires. The cat took one look but wasn’t impressed at all and made an escape to the nearby building unit. Luckily, Lao Ji and his colleagues managed to catch the catthat afternoon and accomplished this very special mission. 📷 📷

Wuhan stories 4 武汉故事（四）

“I can’t cry, otherwise my goggles would fog up and I would not be able to carry on my work.” —a 22-year-old nurse working in Hankou Hospital, Wuhan (Full interview [https://news.163.com/20/0212/10/F566QU1P0001899O.html]）

When the 22-year-old nurse was asked by a CCTV correspondent that if she wanted to send word to reassure her parents through the camera, she hesitated for a second, choking back tears, and said, “I really don’t want to cry but my eyes are filled with tears. No, I can’t cry, otherwise my goggles would fog up and I would not be able to carry on my work”. “I am sorry”, She apologised and returned to her work.

This young nurse is a member of the volunteer medical team from Guangdong province. She was dispatched to work at Hankou Hospital, which is one of the first three hospitals in Wuhan designated to admit COVID-19 virus-infected patients. The hospital has beenflooded with patients. Doctors and staffs have been overwhelmed by the enormous workload, as the dark circles under her eyes clearly showed her fatigue. There’s also a critical shortage of protective medical gears, therefore she wants to make the best use of every pair of goggles.

When the correspondent asked if her parents were worried, knowing that she is working in the most disease-stricken region, she said that she didn't tell them at first, in case they were too anxious, after all it was her duty as a nurse to come and help save people’s lives. However, her parents came to know it recently and they gave her a call. The young nurse recalled it in a trembling voice, ‘It was the first time everthat I saw my dad crying in front of me. All my life, 22 years, it was the first time.’

Wuhan Stories(5) 武汉故事（五）

This is a story posted by a journalist based in Wuhan on 15th February. After Wuhan lockdown, some migrants in this city had no where to go but settled in an underground car park to stay through the winter. “It snowed heavily and was very cold today in Wuhan. My colleague and I went to a a temporary settlement for retained migrants in Wuhan.

The Civil Affairs Bureau and Chengguan(Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau) sent some duvets and one box of instant noodles for each person here. They have been living like this for nearly twenty days—no hot water for bath, since (the government) is still negotiating with hotels.Luckily it is not cold here, and is fairly clean. People are generally in good mood, but are much concerned with the relief of the quarantine, since they are very anxious about money and eager to return to work.

The saddest thing for me was about an old man. He went to Wuhan to earn money in preparation for buying a house for his son. He told me that when he was planning to go back home, he was unaware about the outbreak of coronavirus. It was not until he arrived at the train station that he learnt about this disease. He was told that the entire city was locked down.

He could only use a dumbphone so that he could not video chat with his wife and son even though he missed them a lot. He said with a bitter smile, ‘I have no water to wash my face anyway.’”

Wuhan Stories 6 武汉故事（六)

This story is from weibo@建筑教师万谦 “The key thing is your mindset. When you have fallen ill, stop being paranoid and indecisive, but live in the moment.” –Wan Qian

As an ordinary Wuhan citizen, Wan Qian works as an university lecturer. Unfortunately, four of his family members have been infected with the novel coronavirus in the epidemic. His mother-in-law, 8-year-old daughter and him with mild symptoms decided to self-isolate at home while his wife, a doctor, in a more severe condition was later quarantined in the hospital. Facing this tough situation, Wan Qian showed remarkable resilience and remained composed ever since Jan 24th when they received their virus-test results. Wan calmly made detailed plans of self-isolation—which type of rubbish bin should be used, whether to wear masks or not while sleeping, whether they stored enough medicine at home, and how to guarantee the nutrition of family’s meals etc. In case the condition of all family members became critical simultaneously, he prepared chicken soup beforehand to assure they could survive their weakest time. Her wife, though stayed in the hospital, gave comprehensive instructions on medication—they prepared a form for everyone to tick it every time they took medicine. “People in better condition should support for other family members. We need to pull through this difficulty as a family together”, he said.

Apart from those preparations, he followed strict routine of sterilization at home. He used alcohol disinfectant to sterilize his mobile phone twice a day. He also sprayed disinfectant in bathrooms and over rubbish and waste. While isolated at home, he shared short articles and videos online with others on how to cope with the disease, how to overcome the fear, and the essential medical knowledge.

He wrote in his Weibo: “This is the city where I grew up, and that I’m deeply in love with. I grew up on the Jianghan Road and now I look at her from my window every day. Every day, I hear the sound of the engine of steamboats passing by on the Yangtze River, the roar of trains across the bridge, the loudspeaker broadcasting the instruction of isolation, and occasionally ambulance sirens. My city falls ill, and she is so quite now. However, I know everything will pass for sure. Yes, everything will past.” (updated on Feb 26th, Wan Qian and his family are all in good and stable condition.)