China: Reflection on Two Months of COVID-19

Rylie Xiong

January 18th, 2020. Forty students gathered for what would be the last speech and debate tournament of the year. At that time, COVID-19 was already making its way to Beijing. We just didn’t know it yet.

January 21st, 2020. The entire cast of our school musical, Chicago, was crammed into one small room to practice music. As we left, our director said: “Be careful of this new coronavirus thing, we want everyone to come back safe and healthy”. Little did we know, we would not be coming back to school for weeks.

January 23rd, 2020. One day before Chinese New Year begins. I waited on the sidewalk for my parents to pick me up so we could go shop for food. My pollution mask, which sat gathering dust for the past month, was strapped tightly onto my face. 

In that week, changes came at a rapid pace. School was postponed: first for two weeks, then a month, and then indefinitely. All trips and activities were suspended. All of a sudden, Chinese New Year wasn’t even Chinese New Year anymore. No one was going out to eat, visiting relatives, or traveling. Each day, the first thing I did was check how many new cases had been reported. There was nothing we could do but sit in our homes and wait.

I will not lie—it was possibly the most difficult two months of my life. Between watching bodies getting taken away from hospitals on TV and the grim realization that this could be my life for a good month or two, I was miserable. I didn’t see a point in doing my schoolwork, even as peers around me reminded me junior year grades were the most important of them all. Even worse, I was filled to the brim with anxiety. I tried to shut the news out, but reminders of COVID-19 were everywhere—leaving the house for groceries meant at least two temperature checks and signing my name, phone number, ID number, and address on multiple sheets of paper. 

Slowly, though, I got used to it. I kept a clean pen on me to fill our personal information, and holding out my wrist for a temperature check at every door became second nature. Sure, each day would still begin with a check of COVID-19 statistics, but I learned to block it out. After all, there wasn’t anything I could do to change it.

It’s been over two months now since the coronavirus started, and while China has started to heal, other places have not been faring so well. Each day, as I watch more shops open and see more traffic on the street, the back of my mind is always aware that the rest of the world is just starting to shut down. 

Unfortunately, there aren’t many truthful words of comfort I can offer. This situation is difficult. It will feel like the world is ending, and that’s fine. We are all living in an unprecedented time, and anxiety is only the natural response. Just remember that things will be normal again, at one point or another. Don’t think too far ahead, and just focus on getting through each day. If everyone does their part and helps prevent the spread virus, maybe this will be over soon. After all, April showers bring May flowers.