Leo Corrigan is originally from Killucan and over a decade ago, he was a journalist with Westmeath Topic. These days, life is a little different for Leo, as he has been living in China for the past 11 years. He lives in Nanjing, China with his wife Grace and daughter Aoife.
Leo teaches English at a school in Nanjing, a city just over 500kms from the city of Wuhan where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. During the past week, he put his thoughts together on life in China over the past few months, and how the coronavirus has affected him. And he offers his views on something that has overturned the world and its economy.
WHEN CORONAVIRUS BECAME AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS PROBLEM…
By Leo Corrigan
As life here in China returns to relative normality, our thoughts turn to the escalating situation in Ireland. As I write this, the Taoiseach has announced that social restrictions will continue until at least the 5 May. From someone who has experienced this already, I am well aware of the challenges of being confined to your home for long periods, especially if you have children.
I can remember the tense atmosphere that gradually took hold in early January, when the first reports of mysterious illnesses stated to emerge from Wuhan. Wuhan is a large city of about 11 million people and is 540km from my home here in Nanjing, not that close but not too far away either, just three hours on the high-speed train. Gradually, a slow trickle of leaked reports on social media from healthcare workers hinted at a disaster far worse than was being acknowledged, yet still our life in Nanjing continued as normal.
However, on January 23, when Wuhan city was finally locked down, it started to hit home that this was an extremely serious situation. A few days later I ventured outside to visit my wife’s in-laws for Spring Festival, the biggest national holiday in China. I thought I was being very proactive by wearing a mask as a precaution.
Due to the air pollution, I had several masks in my home that I wear when out and about on my electric scooter. But to my surprise, when I got on the subway, practically everyone was wearing a mask.
Within a few days, lines outside supermarkets snaked around the block while shelves of food were virtually emptied within hours as people started to panic buy. When entering any shop or restaurant, your temperature was checked by someone with a digital thermometer and apartment complexes fenced off their gates, allowing only residents to enter.
REMARKABLE EFFORT
The Chinese are a proud people, very patriotic, and rallying together for a national cause comes natural to them. The massive, concerted effort to tackle the coronavirus outbreak was nothing short of remarkable. The entire country mobilised to a ‘war footing’ that not so much flattened the curve but stopped it dead in its tracks. With a few exceptions, the vast majority of citizens simply stayed at home and enforced social distancing. When I went outside to buy essentials, a normally bustling city of 8 million people had become a ghost town.
Apart from the epicentre in Wuhan, entire cities with populations of 15-20 million were under de facto lockdown for nearly 6 weeks. As the situation in cities stabilised, an army of healthcare workers from all over China were sent to the frontline in Wuhan. These brave men and women did so unquestionably and without protest.
News footage of their loved ones bidding tearful goodbyes at airports and train stations reminded me of soldiers going off to war, unsure if they will ever return. While they have their own problems, like all countries, the Chinese are a ‘can do’ people and could teach us here in the West a thing or two about getting things done. It also reminds me of the sacrifice of our own doctors and nurses in Ireland, the real heroes of this crisis, now bracing themselves for what may come.
NORMALITY RETURNS
As normal life resumes, we are very much aware that we are still living in a ‘fortress’ both near and further afield. Our apartment complex is still closed to non-residents while China’s borders are now closed to foreign nationals, regardless if they hold a valid visa or not. I know that if I return home to Westmeath, I won’t be able to go back for the foreseeable future. There are still concerns of a ‘second wave’ of infections from citizens returning from abroad.
Before the travel ban on ex-pats, I heard several reports of returning friends and colleagues being quarantined in hotel rooms, not allowed to leave for 14 days. Even now, there are reports of fear and unease towards ex-pats, disappointing to see but in these worrying times it’s an understandable reaction. Even now, despite the low number of new cases, people go about their everyday business in masks. This is the accepted behaviour throughout not only China, but all of Asia – to wear a mask is to protect yourself and others. To this day, the Chinese look at world leaders like Boris Johnson with disbelief and bewilderment, when he meets coronavirus patients without wearing a mask.
From my own vantage point here in Nanjing, it appears the HSE are doing a good job, but I can’t help feeling frustration as to why the Government allowed people to travel to Cheltenham and thousands of Italian rugby fans to pour into Dublin for a match that never took place.
FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE
The most important thing I have learned from this experience – apart from ‘your health is your wealth’ – is that a free and peaceful society is very fragile. It has made me appreciate certain things we previously took for granted. To venture out into deserted, roadblocked streets to then encounter empty supermarket shelves is a frightening experience.
When all this is finally over, perhaps we will learn to better value our sense of ‘Irishness’ – the valuable, special traits that made and still make up our culture and traditions. Out of this dark time I hope we emerge with a better notion of shared community – to put aside petty differences and to look out for your neighbour, to value what we have and not to be fixated on things we don’t have,” Leo concludes.
