At first, no one paid attention. The beginning of the story is always mundane, and casual. It’s only when people look back on it that they realize, the start of a major event, was such an ordinary day. Perhaps cholera had already begun, but we had never paid attention. Even before the official announcement, I saw some terms on Weibo. Some people said it was inciting public sentiment, some said not to believe rumors or spread rumors, and many thought it was disrupting social order. But later, the pandemic really began. Then people started to panic, not knowing what to do, busy grabbing supplies, busy fleeing the city. Later, the epidemic became more and more serious, so much so that the authorities had to issue a statement, and then the city was locked down.
From Wuhan, to the whole country, and then to the entire globe. I suddenly realized that the whole world seemed to be undergoing earth-shaking changes, and these changes were completely unexpected.
January 23, 2020 9am
“火车站已经有武警站岗，上午还有几辆火车出发，后面武昌火车站就不让进站走人了，我进了车站，上了火车，火车就停运了，所有人开始被赶出火车站。出来后，出租车也打不到，公交也停运了，无奈从武昌火车站走到了光谷，印象中走了好几个小时。” Jacky said
Translate “The railway station has been guarded by armed police, and there are several trains departing in the morning, and then the Wuchang railway station will not let people enter the station and leave, I entered the station, got on the train, and the train stopped, and everyone began to be driven out of the train station. After coming out, the taxi could not be called, and the bus was suspended, so I had no choice but to walk from Wuchang Railway Station to Optics Valley, and I had the impression of walking for several hours“ Jacky said.
On January 23rd, the day before Chinese New Year’s Eve, news of the city lockdown spread throughout Wuhan.There is a notice that tell us wuhan’s urban buses, subways, ferries, and long-distance passenger transport will be suspended. This was an invisible blow to the people of Wuhan, who also realized the severity of the epidemic.
“From 10 o’clock on January 23, 2020, the city’s urban buses, subways, ferries, and long-distance passenger transport will be suspended; Citizens should not leave Wuhan without special reasons, and the passage from Han at the airport and railway station is temporarily closed. The resumption time will be announced later.” Wuhan Headquarters
Jacky is my boyfriend who is in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. He went to Wuhan because he was on business. He also wanted to go home for the Spring Festival. He had bought the train ticket and was dropped by the armed police. He spent more than three months in Wuhan.
“刚开始社区还没有封控，还只是封城，后面开始社区也封控了，这下子算是封控到最小单位了。封控中还是可以点外卖的.”
“At the beginning, communities were not yet under lockdown; only the city was. Later on, communities were also locked down, making them the smallest unit of control. Even during the lockdown, it was still possible to order takeout.”said Jacky. At this time, there are more and more people are confirmed from the hostipple that they have covid.
The yellow bar shows the confirmed cases, the blue bar shows that new suspected cases, the green line shows the growth rate of confirmed case and the red line shows the growth rate of suspected cases.
This map shows that each day, there are increase in people having covid. The pandemic is getting out of controlled. According to National Health Commission, as of 24:00 on April 3rd, 31 reported 19 new confirmed cases, totaling 81,639 cases. There are currently 1,562 confirmed cases, 11 new suspected cases totaling 114 cases. Additionally, there were 180 new cases cured and discharged (totaling 76,751 cases), and 4 new deaths (totaling 3,326 cases). There were 64 new asymptomatic infections, including 26 imported asymptomatic infections.
“那段时间，我隔几天就听到认识的谁谁确诊了，谁谁家里已经走了，那种心里压力简直难以述说。我忍了3个月连楼都没敢下。当时有外地的朋友说我不该在朋友圈发武汉很惨的内容，太夸大了，全国都很严重.”Jacky point out that “during that time, I would hear every few days that someone I knew had been diagnosed or that someone’s family member had passed away. The stress was indescribable. I stayed inside for three months without even going downstairs. At that time, friends from other places said I shouldn’t post such grim content about Wuhan on social media, that I was exaggerating, and that the situation was serious all over the country.” At this time of the pandemic
There are strict community lockdown and management. It is implementing epidemic prevention and control measures in neighborhoods and villages, controlling the movement of people, and strengthening the management of close contacts and suspected cases.There are also mass nucleic acid testing. In every community, they are conducting large-scale nucleic acid testing in severely affected areas and outbreak clusters to promptly identify infected individuals, isolate them, and treat them, thereby containing the spread of the virus.
“那个时候微博超话有很多求助，都是家里人感染了，医院爆满，根本住不进去，没有药，什么都没有，每天都有人在离开，非常可怕，那时的武汉真的人间炼狱，幸好国家出手了，随着火神山雷神山以及一些方舱医院的建成，还有各地驰援的医护人员、物资，感觉那时候真是前所未有的团结，那一场浩劫终于过去了” Jacky added that “during that time, there were many pleas for help on Weibo, with families reporting infections, hospitals overflowing, and no space for new patients. There were shortages of medicine and supplies, and every day, people were passing away. It was truly a living hell in Wuhan. Thankfully, the country took action, and with the construction of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals, as well as the establishment of makeshift hospitals, and the arrival of medical teams and supplies from all over the country, there was an unprecedented sense of unity.”
This is a photo of Huoshenshan Hospital. Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, a hospital that was rapidly built in China during the 2020 pandemic, is located in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Huoshenshan Hospital is one of the shelter hospitals that was quickly built in response to the outbreak of the epidemic at that time, similar to the Leishenshan Hospital built at the same time. It took 10 days to build quickly and began receiving patients on February 3. The hospital has been modularized and transformed into a fully equipped and functional hospital with a capacity of approximately 1,000 beds. The name of Huoshenshan Hospital comes from the god of fire in ancient Chinese mythology, which symbolizes the strength and belief to defeat the epidemic.
我就每天测体温一百次，怕自己感染了，然后看着网上的人说确诊得不到治疗，然后有自杀的，有住在私家车里不敢回家的，就开始想我得了怎么办？我孩子怎么办？网上还很多人骂武汉人，为什么要逃出武汉，传播病毒，但是他们不知道留在武汉得不到治疗等于等死啊……后来封城，感觉我们是不是被抛弃了，直到解放军来了，全国的小伙伴来支援我们了，才觉得冬天终会过去，春天一定会到来！
I checked my temperature a hundred times a day, afraid that I might be infected. I read online about people being diagnosed and unable to receive treatment, some even committing suicide, and others living in their cars because they were too afraid to go home. I started to worry about what would happen if I got sick. What would happen to my child? There were also many people online blaming Wuhan residents, asking why they were trying to escape from Wuhan and spreading the virus. But they didn’t understand that staying in Wuhan without treatment was like waiting to die. Later, when the city was locked down, I felt like we were abandoned. It wasn’t until the military and people from all over the country came to support us that I felt the winter would eventually pass, and spring would surely come!
After the lockdown in Wuhan, many other cities or regions around the world also implemented lockdowns or similar measures to cope with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some cities and regions around the world have experienced lockdowns or restriction measures, with specific situations varying by time and location. In China, in addition to Wuhan, other cities in Hubei Province such as Huanggang and Xiaogan also implemented lockdown measures. Other countries, such as Milan in Italy, Madrid in Spain, and Paris in France, have also implemented similar lockdown measures.
Reference
https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-01/23/content_5471751.htm
https://m.21jingji.com/article/20200404/herald/6c57126ace236db33694a0ab0d5812b8_zaker.html
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-02/03/c_1125523730.htm