Wuhan locals survived in the epicenter of coronavirus

“The Wuhan authorities withheld the truth and covered it up at the beginning,” said Yuan Li, a Wuhan resident.

Yuan Li, an editor for an online local lifestyle publication in Wuhan, China where she lives, said she did not realize the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in the city of eleven million until she traveled to Macau before the Chinese New Year and watched CNN news in her hotel room.

“I’m still mad at the Wuhan mayor, Hubei governor and some other bureaucrats,” she said. “They withheld the truth and covered it up at the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan.”

Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese top epidemiologist, confirmed that the local government had suppressed information about the virus until he and his team arrived at Wuhan on January 18. Zhong told CNN on May 17 that he didn’t believe the initial number of confirmed cases in Wuhan.

Hubei party secretary Jiang Chaoliang and the Communist Party leader of Wuhan city Ma Guoqiang were ousted in February charged with malfeasance and slow response to the coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, two other directors at Hubei Province Health Commission were discharged.

Li returned to Wuhan after the holiday in the middle of January, and then finally began hearing that the government was about to act. Rumors were circulating in social media that Wuhan authorities were going to order a citywide lockdown.

“I couldn’t believe it until I saw the news from local media,” she said.

The official shutdown came on January 23. The result was chaos throughout the city– highways were jammed by escaping cars and people staying in Wuhan rushed to grocery stores to stockpile essentials. Some of Li’s friends and relatives managed to leave Wuhan before the lockdown order. For Li, her family and others who stayed, life was frustrating.

Fortunately, Li and her family had stockpiled supplies for the Chinese New Year celebration. Within a few days, cities across the nation began lockdowns one by one.

Since those early days, one person from each family in Wuhan has been allowed to go out to purchase essentials every two or three days. And a few days after the lockdown, officers and volunteers at the local Neighborhood Committee, one of the grassroots self-managing organizations in urban areas throughout mainland China, delivered meat and fresh vegetables door to door.

All residents had to report body temperature to officials at the Neighborhood Committee every morning, Li said. “If someone got symptoms, the officers would report to the higher level administration, then medical personnel would take you to hospitals as soon as possible.”

Wuhan residents had been reporting body temperature daily until March 28, when the lockdown order was lifted. However, Li said every time she takes the subway or visits public buildings nowadays, she still has to have a temperature check at the entrance.

I’ve suffered discrimination as a Hubei resident,” said Jiawei Fu, an engineer who works in Wuhan.

Jiawei Fu is an engineer working in Wuhan. During the holidays in February, he went back to his hometown of Xiaogan – a city in Hubei Province — which was locked down nearly at the same time as Wuhan did.

“The official information was released too late to prepare adequately,” Fu said.

The staff at the Village Committee — another type of self-governance organization in the rural areas in mainland China, patrolled the streets every day to block residents from visiting each other and sealing off all streets, Fu said. Fu said that tension permeated every aspect of life in Xiaogan.

“Here everyone also needed to report body temperature every morning until March 28,” Fu added, “COVID-19 patients with suspicious and mild symptoms would be sent to makeshift hospitals, some severe patients would be transferred to designated infectious diseases hospitals to take treatment.”

To combat the shortage of open beds during the coronavirus pandemic, Wuhan designated at least 46 hospitals to take over COVID-19 patients from other cities in Hubei Province, along with building up two field hospitals in ten days – Leishenshan Hospital and Huoshenshan Hospital, and rebuilding the sports centers into temporary hospitals, according to information from Wuhan officials.

“As for me, I’ve suffered discrimination as a Hubei resident,” Fu said. Other provinces imposed travel restrictions targeting people from Hubei – the epicenter of this outbreak – cautious about travelers who could be contagious without showing symptoms. Fu said he doesn’t know when travel restrictions will be lifted to allow him to travel freely beyond Hubei Province.

Fu was still facing restrictions, even though the reported number of new infections has decreased greatly across the nation. Because of the restrictions, he was not permitted to travel to Beijing in late May for China’s two biggest annual political activities — the annual Nation’s people congress conference and the annual Chinese people’s political consultative conference.

“In general, Wuhan authorities should have taken timely measures to save irreparable damages,” said Fu.

“We are working overload to challenge impossibility,” said Long Chen, a doctor at Wuhan Orthopaedic Hospital.

Long Chen, a doctor at Wuhan Orthopaedic Hospital, one of the designated COVID hospitals, decided to give up his holidays and returned to the city to take care of COVID-19 infected patients. Since January 25, Chen has been working on the front line.

“Some of my colleagues went back to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year celebration and they cannot come back to the hospital due to nationwide lockdown,” said Chen.

“When I got called to go back to the hospital, I didn’t dare tell my family,” he said, “I know it’s my duty, I swore under the Hippocratic Oath to become a responsible doctor.”

Chen said he was helped by some senior medical staff who had gained experience by dealing with the SARS epidemic in 2002. At first, he was concerned that they would not have adequate personal protective equipment. However, the board of the Wuhan Orthopedic Hospital promised to help.

He said he was thankful for volunteers and some nonprofit organizations that donated medical supplies, such as facial masks and ventilators. “I cannot imagine what would have happened without their help,” Chen said.

Wuhan Orthopedic Hospital was designated to receive older COVID-19 infected patients from nursing homes across Hubei Province, and that prompted additional obstacles to treatment. As of now, Wuhan Orthopedic Hospital has taken in more than 800 infected patients.

“We had to ensure the normal progress of the treatment toward infected patients, but also collaborate with nursing workers to take care of the elderly,” said Chen, “It was exhausting.”

In the early phase of the pandemic, more than 30,000 open beds were set up in the designated hospitals, along with 25,000 in the field hospitals set up in Wuhan city gradually, according to the PRC’s State Council Information Office. As of mid-March, all 16 field hospitals were no longer needed. A total of 12,000 infected patients had been treated until the closure.

Of all the patients Chen treated, he said one man in his 80s had impressed him the most. The man was deaf, Chen said, and they could only communicate with pen and paper.

“As a doctor, it’s my duty to guarantee my patients’ physical and mental well-being,” Chen said.

On February 14, Chen drew a painting for this elder patient to encourage him.

“His optimism also encouraged me,” Chen said.

Chen also paid tribute to Li Wenliang, the Chinese ophthamologist who was one of the first doctors to alert the public about the COVID outbreak, only to face reprisals for speaking out. Li contracted the disease and died on February 7 at the Central Hospital of Wuhan.

“Li spoke out loud because he wanted to protect those he loved,” Chen said. “I’m severely sad about his death.”

Chen says he continues to combat the virus, and is currently working on a program to test Wuhan residents citywide. He said he had been working continuously several days to collect nucleic acid samples.

“We are working overload to challenge the impossible,” Chen said.