An outbreak of COVID-19, a new coronavirus, first reported Dec. 31, 2019, has spread internationally, infected 88,948, and killed 3,043 people around the world, according to the World Health Organization’s latest situation report from March 2. This disease, which originated in the city of Wuhan, China, was deemed by the WHO a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30, 2020, the same day that the disease was first discovered in the United States. Now the disease has spread to 58 different countries all over the world, and as of March 1 WHO has reported 62 confirmed cases in the U.S.
The outbreak of this deadly disease has had substantial impact on local Chinese communities, including those here in Harvard. Zhuangwei, a Chinese resident of Harvard, said she is very worried for family and friends in China who are at high risk of contracting the disease. “I have been closely checking related news every day and contacting my family and friends through WeChat (a social media platform), exchanging information about especially how to avoid this virus,” she said in an interview on Feb. 24. She added that she sent N95 protective masks to her parents, since in China they were hard to obtain.
Local establishments have also been shutting down, and events have been canceled. Hei, restaurant manager of Asian Gourmet in Concord, a local favorite, said that business has been slow the last few weeks due to negative coronavirus sentiment, but it has now begun to pick up. Deng Aniu, another Chinese resident of Harvard, remarked that the Chinese New Year celebration that was scheduled to take place in Harvard on Jan. 25 has been postponed indefinitely out of fear of the virus. Haining, the headmaster of the Chelmsford Chinese School where a few Chinese families send their children, reported that normal classes were stopped and students had to begin taking online classes. He added, “We are encouraging all students and families to do what we can to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.” He said they are pushing initiatives to donate money, make support videos, and draw motivational pictures for Wuhan.
Since the discovery of the illness, the Chinese government has been taking action to prevent the spread of and speed the research on this coronavirus. One of its first preventive measures was locking down Wuhan, a city of 11 million people. Under protective isolation for four weeks now, some citizens of Wuhan describe what life is really like inside the quarantine.
Coping with a quarantine
Luoxiantao and Xiaoyi, friends of the Zhou family in Harvard, talked about their daily lives under quarantine. For Xiaoyi, the son of Luoxiantao, life has “pretty much stayed the same” since the outbreak. He is even continuing normally with school, taking his classes online at home. He commented, “I may read some books for a couple of hours, play the piano for a couple of hours … I’m really calm. I’m normal. I just stay the same because whether the outbreak were to occur or not, I always stay home.”
Luoxiantao had a different experience. She described the living conditions under quarantine: “The living conditions are all right. Beforehand it was approaching Chinese New Year so we stocked up on food. Only the transportation isn’t convenient. There is no public transportation, and they don’t allow private cars in the city either. So we cannot drive our cars out, and so we have to stay home. Except for going out to throw the trash, we don’t go out. For grocery shopping, we can do it online so it’s quite convenient.”
“I cook for the whole family, but I also spend a lot of time reading online news and information because it’s very relevant for us,” said Luoxiantao. “My hometown is in Hubei, [and] the hospitals there are in desperate need of supplies, like face masks, so I am also participating in volunteer groups trying to get supplies to those hospitals in need. The volunteer group has succeeded in gathering protective suits and masks for the hospitals in my hometown. I also try to forward new information to my own social groups so it gets broadcasted. Then I just watch TV.”
‘There’s nobody on the street’
She emphasized the stark contrast between life before and after the outbreak: “[Now,] there’s basically nobody out on the street. Only the essential personnel, such as people cleaning the streets and people who are deploying supplies for hospitals and other places, are out. The residential people just stay home. Otherwise it’s very raucous at this time of year [in celebration of Chinese New Year]. Usually during New Year’s vacation week, people like to be outside window shopping, shopping, going to lantern festivals, meeting friends, but now we can’t. We stay inside and don’t go out at all.”
Her son talked about some government efforts to combat the pandemic. “They built two big hospitals … they have rooms for 2,000 patients, I think. Also, they employed another firm to distribute protective medical supplies, and this is just being done today. Before this the city was chaotic, but now these supplies are in the right places.”
Luoxiantao also mentioned the role of the government in Wuhan. In addition to banning private cars, it implemented measures to regulate the influx and outflux of people in the city. Also, it extended the Chinese New Year holiday by 15 days.
According to Luoxiantao, “[The situation] used to be chaotic, but I’m much happier today because things seem to be improving. Everything is more organized. … Before this I was very sad because I had seen the illness affecting the people I know, including people that had died that I was very close to. Starting today, I’m finally feeling hopeful.”
Sophia Zhou is a Bromfield sophomore.
Interview responses were originally in Chinese and were translated by Harvard residents Jianyu Liang and Chen Zhou.
