Fang Fang - Wuhan Diary - Dispatches from a Quarantined City

Over the course of the past few days, there have been quite a few reporters who have interviewed me. One of them asked me a question that I thought was quite interesting: “Over the course of this outbreak, who are the people or things that have been overlooked?” Now that I have had some time to think about it, I feel that there are simply too many people and things that have been overlooked. When this thing first started, the citywide lockdown was imposed quite hastily; it was like trying to seal a large wooden bucket with a hundred holes and no bottom. All the while, the government was doing its best to try to stop the water flooding out of the bottom; meanwhile, there was no one left to stop the water leaking out of those hundred holes. We need to thank all those volunteers who stepped up to help seal off the city; these young volunteers were really amazing. They are the ones who noticed all those holes and sprang into action to fill them. There was Wang Yong, who helped organize transportation for the flood of medical personnel going in and out of Jinyintan District each day; during this first month of quarantine, Wu You supplied free medicine to the citizens of Wuhan but got in trouble for doing so; and then there was Liu Xian, who came all the way from Sichuan Province to provide free lunches for medical workers at Wuhan hospitals. There are many people out there like them. No one ordered them to do any of these things and when people saw them taking action, no one offered to help. Actually, each government department has administrative personnel who should have been taking care of these types of things once the quarantine went into effect; they are the ones who really should been taking responsibility for all these details. The worst part is that they seem to place themselves above the common people (or, to put it another way, their level of administrative competency is too low); unless they get a memo in writing ordering them to take action, they move in slow motion. The government should really step up and properly thank all those volunteers who sprang into action and filled all the gaping holes that were left unattended. If not for them, who knows how many more terrible things would have befallen Wuhan?

I learned another phrase today, “secondary disaster.” The lockdown in Wuhan was something that we had no choice about, but after an extended period of quarantine you really need to have an overall plan in place. If you don’t have an overall plan, the later consequences will be hard to imagine. If government officials fail to take the issue of the people’s livelihoods seriously, if they don’t put in practical measures to deal with the economic issues that many healthy people will be dealing with, if they aren’t flexible enough to come up with thoughtful policies that will take care of these kinds of issues, I’m afraid that the problems awaiting us will result in another “epidemic.” There are a lot of people who have been discussing these issues lately.

Last night one of my classmates forwarded me a letter of appeal that has been circulating widely on WeChat; the letter raises the issue of migrant workers, and I want to share it with you here:

The people are the core of the nation, the people require food to survive, the government is the people’s government, the people support the nation through their labor. As we fight this epidemic, we call on various government agencies to establish a “Working Committee for Migrant Worker Employment.” Right now all people from Hubei are unable to leave the province, companies outside of Hubei are canceling their contracts with Hubei workers, and others are simply being turned down for jobs from the get-go. In 30 days when restrictions begin to be lifted on districts in Hubei where the virus is under control, we should have government buses or volunteers who can take workers directly to a place of work in order to avoid their being quarantined for an additional two weeks once they arrive. If the government does not pay attention to this issue, migrant workers from Hubei will end up being replaced by workers from other provinces, which will lead to widespread unemployment for Hubei workers. This will be a massive side effect of the coronavirus outbreak, and it needs to be addressed by the government. Take for instance those remote mountain areas where there are few people; currently there are no government-run job placement services for those areas. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, many employers are scared as soon as they hear that someone is from Hubei, which has led to a true employment crisis for many people. If the Hubei government does not immediately take action to put measures in place to help get Hubei migrant workers back to work in those remote mountain areas and other areas unaffected by the virus, we will be facing an imminent wave of unemployment. Many workers don’t have any savings and they have not been able to earn any wages this year due to the outbreak; families need to eat. What are they to do? The government should help promote the availability of Hubei workers to nonaffected areas and encourage companies to hire Hubei workers. The government needs to reassure them and help arrange employment opportunities while these various companies arrange transportation, quarantine facilities, and screenings before employment begins. These should all be reasonable requests; after all, not all people from Hubei have been infected. As the government fights the coronavirus, it needs to simultaneously take steps to ensure that the people’s livelihood is being taken care of. For most migrant worker families, not working today means that they will be going hungry tomorrow! We hope that all the various government agencies in Hubei prioritize this request and fast-track it for discussion at upcoming meetings; the people’s livelihood is an issue that affects everyone. Please forward this message.

What I have attached above is the complete letter of appeal, which I am passing on.

March 3, 2020

You need to give us all an explanation.

It is still overcast and a bit cold and windy. This morning my neighbor out in the suburbs texted me a photograph. Under the photo was a message that said: “The begonias on your front porch are in bloom, but your WeChat seems to have been shut down.” I’m used to my posts on WeChat being taken down. But knowing that my begonias are blooming is really something to be excited about. There was a big drought that lasted throughout the summer and autumn last year. All the leaves on the trees withered and fell. I was really concerned that the tree might die. But its will to live was so strong; in early spring it lit up with radiant flowers. Even through the screen of my phone I can feel the excitement of its full bloom.

There is again a mixture of both good news and bad news today. I spoke to one of my doctor friends about where things stand with the coronavirus epidemic, and he is now extremely optimistic about how things are going: “Everything is now looking much brighter concerning the coronavirus. Building off the foundation of the good news from two days ago, yesterday things continued to improve. The combined total of new confirmed and suspected cases added up to fewer than 200 people, which included a particularly large reduction of suspected cases. During the coming two days we should be entering a phase where new patient numbers are expected to drop below 100. According to these figures, controlling the spread of the coronavirus is now a goal within our sights! Building on the progress we have made, we will need to put everything into improving treatment results, further lowering the death rate, and shortening the period of hospitalization as much as possible.”

That’s right, it is absolutely essential to get the death rate down lower. A shame, then, that news of more deaths keeps coming in. One bit of news that shocked a lot of people today was the death of Dr. Mei Zhongming from Central Hospital. He was the assistant director of Dr. Li Wenliang’s department. An extremely skilled ophthalmologist, he was only 57 years old. His specialty practice was extremely in-demand. Once news broke of his death, all his former patients started posting condolences and remembrances online. One of my former colleagues from the television station told me that they were neighbors. Tonight everyone in the community where he lived will be praying for Dr. Mei. I hope he is able to rest in peace.