Allen and his brother’s accounts

Allen - My personal account

 With the first confirmed case of 2019 nCoV in Shantou reported on 25 January 2020, the Shantou government announced that the city would be under lockdown. One of my colleagues reminded me to purchase some food for storage as all the citizens were rushing to buy food. However, two hours later, the Shantou government withdrew the lockdown, which may have been due to directives from Guangdong Provincial Government. In the meantime, the Guangdong Provincial Government ensured there is a supply of 4 months’ grain reserved for people in Guangdong, which eased the panic of the crowd. I went to a small supermarket nearby that afternoon. There were still plenty of goods, but the owner was going to close due to the concern of being infected and urged me to leave. I stayed at home and did not go anywhere during the following days. I had been ordering take-out food during those days. In order to avoid contact with the delivery men, I always asked them to leave the food outside the door and picked up the food two minutes later. However, on 4 February 2020, the delivery men were forbidden to enter into the community where I live. On the same day, my brother, who lives thousands of miles away, contacted me and said that one of his colleagues was sent to hospital and confirmed infected with 2019 nCoV. My brother needed to be quarantined because he had close contact with that colleague. I started to feet that the 2019 nCoV was so close by then. Fortunately, my brother has not yet shown any symptoms and his CT scan result was normal. He is still under the 14-day quarantine and I hope he has not been infected.

My brother's account

   I am a civil servant of the County Education Bureau. On January 25, we received the notice from the unit that we need to go to work early and spare no effort in the epidemic prevention and control work. I mainly assisted in handling social donation materials. Because I had to work and would contact different people, my wife and two children went to live with my mother-in-law in order to avoid my bringing the virus home and infecting them. Our work was going well. As of February 3, we had received 490 thousand disposable masks, 2,040 sets of protective clothing, and 40,000 pairs of medical gloves, etc. 

Unit February 4, one of my colleagues informed us that he was asked by the hospital to be quarantined and advised us to be quarantined immediately. Then I went back home. I didn’t have any symptoms though I have been in contact with my colleague several times and I wore a mask every time. Even so I was still a little worried. My wife and children had returned home during this period and I was very worried that they would be infected by me. 

The next day, my colleague was diagnosed with confirmed coronavirus infection. I immediately went to the hospital for a CT scan even though I had no symptoms. The CT scan showed that everything was normal, and the doctor gave me some antiviral drugs at the same time. Currently, I am still in self-quarantine. I take my temperature every day and I am always trying to be aware in case other symptoms appear. At the same time, I keep communicating via WeChat with my colleagues who are still working in the front lines everyday. They are great and I greatly admiration them.

How My Family and Friends in Wuhan Are Dealing with the Outbreak

Dr Zjhenyu Cheng

I have been keeping close contact with my family and friends in China via WeChat, the Chinese social media app.

The following are their real stories as they told them to me.

My mom has been staying at home since January 23. She has stocks of food that she says would last for a month. She heard from her neighbors that there are fresh vegetables in the supermarket that is a 5-minute walk away. She can go out anytime, but she chooses not to go out these days. We video chat with each other every day. Most of the time, she talks with my children and I will have some updates from her. If she needs to go out, she wears her mask. She will then thoroughly wash her hands when she gets back home. She keeps daily contacts with her siblings in Wuhan by phone call or WeChat. 

My friend, with whom I went to junior high almost thirty years ago, is a researcher. He and his wife have one child and their parents from both sides. My friend also offered to help my mom if she needs anything, but my mom is okay and doesn’t want to bother my friend. He is my resource to check some of the updates that I hear from my mom, because I am concerned about my mom not wanting to tell the truth to worry me. It turns out, my mom is telling the truth. There are sufficient food supplies and the prices are more or less normal. His mother-in-law had flu symptoms a few days ago and they were worried about the nCoV infection. It turned out to be non-viral after blood tests in the community hospital. So they are quite relieved and she is recovering at home. My friend is also thinking forward about the issues that will be left to deal with after the emergency is under control. 

My niece is 19 years old. She is a first-year undergraduate in an Eastern China city. She went to visit my mom during the Chinese New Year break. She stayed in Wuhan, which is in Central China, with my mom for 10 days and went back to her hometown in Eastern China 2 days before the public transportation was suspended. After arriving at her home, she and her family have taken a 14-day self-quarantine at their home. The local health care officials were following up with their situations daily. They are just past their 14-day mark and everything is fine. But they don’t want to go out either. They try to stay positive about the self-quarantine by saying that they spent the best Chinese New Year by just relaxing and not stuffing themselves like they would usually do during this time of the year. 

Another friend of mine, who grew up with me, is trying to keep her daughter’s academic learning progress by registering her in some online courses. 

I am so glad that the people who I know are okay. I am sure there are so many other people might be struggling during this difficult time. And the healthcare workers are working under extreme pressure with limited resources. 

Let’s all keep positive and believe everything will pass, but hopefully soon. I really appreciate all the help from my friends, especially everyone from the Kelvin family, in order to support all the people in China.

-Dr Zjhenyu Cheng