Trapped in a Quarantined City
A harrowing first-hand account from Huanggang, the Hubei city next to virus epicenter Wuhan.
A harrowing first-hand account from Huanggang, the Hubei city next to virus epicenter Wuhan.
In just four days, my family experienced a dramatic turn of events, and we got trapped in Huanggang—the second Chinese city quarantined after Wuhan—due to the coronavirus outbreak. The last month has been a difficult time for my family as well as many others throughout the country. We are looking forward to the end of the epidemic.
At midnight on January 19, my family and I arrived by high-speed rail to my hometown of Huanggang, which is the city next to Wuhan in Hubei Province. My kids were looking forward to celebrating the Lunar New Year with their beloved grandma and aunt in our annual reunion.
While in Beijing, we heard rumors that there were people in Wuhan who were infected with a new kind of deadly virus that could be very contagious. But the Wuhan authorities firmly denied the allegations, saying that the virus was “preventable” and “controllable.” The police had caught eight people for spreading “groundless” rumors on the Internet. We remained cautious, nonetheless.
One day before our departure, Wuhan held a Guinness World Record food festival, attended by more than 40,000 households who presented 13,986 delicious homemade meals. We felt relieved. Approaching the Lunar New Year, getting even one railway ticket had become extremely difficult and expensive, and I had to pay a scalper to secure tickets for my family. So, we decided to go ahead. The train passed Wuhan before arriving in Huanggang.
Not until several days later did we learn from the news that, on the same night, Zhong Nanshan, China’s top virus expert and a national hero from the SARS outbreak in 2003, was hurrying back to Beijing after a one-day survey in Wuhan on the virus situation.
On January 20, we started holiday shopping but got an ominous sign. In a press conference held by the National Health Commission, Mr. Zhong warned people, ‘Do not travel to Wuhan unless necessary, and people in Wuhan do not get out unless necessary.’ However, on the same evening, the Hubei provincial government held an extravagant gala to celebrate the Lunar New Year. We were utterly perplexed, trying to decipher the situation.
On January 21, President Xi instructed the public on the coronavirus outbreak, stating that a nationally leading team, chaired by Premier Li, would be set up to deal with the epidemic. The situation suddenly looked extremely serious, underlined now by the unprecedentedly swift actions from the top Chinese leaders.
One day later, Wuhan launched a Public Health Emergency. Rumors began to spread that Wuhan would be completely locked down soon, blocking our way back to Beijing. We quickly evaluated the situation and came up with an alternative plan. If we couldn’t go through Wuhan for a train or flight, we would go to Nanchang, the capital city of the neighboring Jiangxi province, which also serves flights to Beijing.
However, the situation changed too quickly for us to react.
In less than one day, our small window to escape was closed while we tried to digest the once-in-a-lifetime incident.
Four days later, the confirmed infection cases in Wuhan rose to 698, with 63 deaths, and the Mayor admitted at a national press conference that five million people had already gotten out of Wuhan before the lockdown. The entire country was shocked and fell into a panic.
The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus skyrocketed since China started daily disclosure on January 24. As of February 9, in just a little over two weeks, 37,288 cases have been confirmed nationwide, including 813 deaths. No province or municipality in mainland China is immune. But Wuhan is undoubtedly the epicenter of the crisis, accounting for 40.1% of the total confirmed cases and 74.8% of the deaths.
Huanggang is the second most populous city in Hubei Province, with 7.5 million people, compared with Wuhan’s 11 million. But Huanggang is much poorer in terms of economic output. Only one hospital in Huanggang is rated AAA, the best class by China’s standard, compared with more than 30 AAA-rated hospitals in Wuhan. Therefore, Huanggang’s health care system is under tremendous strain. Even worse, it's been reported that half a million people from Wuhan entered Huanggang before the lockdown.
You can probably blame the high-speed rail for spreading the infection so quickly—it takes less than 40 minutes for a shuttle train to run between Wuhan and Huanggang. In Beijing, it takes at least 55 minutes to get to Tsinghua University from my apartment. A study shows that China’s fast-growing train network contributes significantly to mobility but opens more routes for virus infection.
Four days ago, the Huanggang government initiated even stricter rules to contain the infections:
Immediately, we got very nervous about food supply, given the indefinite period of lockdown. We can’t order anything online because nothing can be delivered to the city. We’ve set up a few WeChat groups for neighbors to put bulk orders so that hopefully local farmers, who can get a special pass for delivering food, are willing to deliver to the neighborhood. To minimize infection, people in the WeChat group are scheduled to pick up their orders at a designated spot. We strive to conserve food so that we can minimize the need for shopping. We track the consumption of rice, vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, and meat. We also keep track of masks, disinfectants, ethanol, diapers, and baby formula.
To avoid getting infected, we’ve paid extra attention to disinfection. Before going out to pick up the food, I carefully put on a mask, safety goggles, and protective gloves. I’ll spray diluted ethanol on the surface of the food bags before taking them indoors. Every morning, we clean the floor with disinfectants and keep windows open for natural ventilation.
Entering the third week, we got used to the “new normal.” We appreciate how the quarantine has changed the way we’re living and thinking.
Every day, we talk about what we’re going to do after the epidemic is over, even though we don’t know when. I’ll take the family to our favorite restaurant to celebrate, and then we’ll go to see a movie. My kids will play outdoors with their friends. My wife will go shopping and eat her favorite pizza. One thing is for sure: we’ll cherish every moment we’ve been through together.