During January 2020, the coronavirus infection began to flare up in China, more specifically in the city of Wuhan. I heard about this on the news, but for weeks I remained quite indifferent to the subject. Like most people, I wasn't too worried about a small epidemic in a Chinese city. Until I met my Chinese friend Ziyi in the hallway at work. We smiled at each other as always and so with a smile I asked how it was in China for his annual leave from which he returned about ten days earlier. "And by the way," I asked, "Are you maybe from Wuhan?" He told me, “No, I am not. And Wuhan is closed, all flights are suspended, trains, buses, all traffic is stopped, Wuhan is in isolation.” As when it comes to visiting new places, so in situations of such disasters, I become genuinely interested and sensitive when the people I know are at risk. Ziyi was telling me about Wuhan, I was listening and something clicked inside me, as if I realized then that something serious was happening. I still thought at the time that it was “seriously” located in China. It was the end of January. Under this new impression of the seriousness of the situation, I reacted spontaneously, and in the absence of a word of support, I hugged my friend tightly. Ziyi who is always smiling got serious, I caught him with my hug and he just said, "I'm going to have to tell all my friends that there are some very nice people here." I told him to take care and that's where we left each other.
I then listened with much greater attention to the news of this epidemic that threatened to become a pandemic. I soon heard of a Chinese doctor, Dr. Li Wenliang, 34,
who passed away after being infected with the corona virus. He was the first doctor to notice that it was a new, dangerous virus, and on December 30, he sent a notification to his fellow doctors that there was a danger of contracting the new virus and warned them to wear protection. To the great detriment, the Chinese government accused Dr Wenliang of spreading false news and demanded that he deny his warning. Tragically, Dr. Wenliang contracted the virus in early January, and died of it in early February.
During February, it became clear that the epidemic had come to Europe at the gates of Italy. The news from Italy was extremely shocking and worrying and I was scared for my friends from the province of Lombardy where the centre of the infection was. It became clear that the pandemic was spreading at high speed and soon to be knocking on our door. News of deaths arrived, and I was genuinely concerned about my Doc at the time. It was by no means clear to me how it would be at all possible for GPs to protect themselves. I saw him at the time and I couldn't bear not to share my concern with him. He replied to me very casually that he was not a risk group and did not seem concerned. He comforted me only in part, and I almost told him, "Nor was Dr Li Wenliang a risk group," but I kept that thought to myself. I feared for him until the vaccine arrived when I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
My friend Ziyi returned to China in the summer of 2020 with a plan to return to Cambridge in two months. Unfortunately, his return is constantly delayed due to the pandemic, and I hope that this coming summer he will manage to come for a few months. Ziyi read my blog while he was in Cambridge and often commented on my writing. Unfortunately, China is restricting the availability of data on the Internet and Ziyi is not able to follow my blog from China. Applications such as WhatApp and Viber are also banned.
Now, a year or so after the pandemic began to spread around the world, we have a vaccine and that is why we can be optimistic. Most of my friends have been vaccinated, but unfortunately not all. I hope that all my friends will make an effort to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The fear of vaccination is irrational, the danger of infection and complications is very real.
Love
Kristina
Sunday, May 2nd, 2021
Dr Li Wenliang I kako je pocelo
Tokom sijecnja 2020 pocela se rasplamsavati infekcija coronavirusom u Kini, preciznije u gradu Wuhanu. Slusala sam o tome na vijestima, ali tjednima sam ostala poprilicno indiferentna na tu temu I nije me previse brinula neka mala epidemijica u jednom kineskom gradu. Sve dok na hodniku na poslu nisam srela svog kineskog prijetelja Ziyia. Nasmijesili smo se kao uvijek jedno drugom I tako sam uz osmijeh pitala kako je bilo u Kini na godisnjem sa kojeg se vratio prije nekih desetak dana. “I uspot”, pitala sam, “nadam se da nisi iz Wuhana?” Rekao mi je “Ne, nisam. A I Wuhan je zatvoren, svi letovi su suspendirani, vlakovi, autobusi, sav promet je zaustavljen, Wuhan je u izolaciji.” Kao I kad se radi o posjecivanju novih mjesta, tako I u situacijama ovakvih nepogoda, postajem istinski zainteresirana I osjetljiva kad su ugrozeni ljudi koje znam. Ziyi mi je pricao o Wuhanu, ja sam slusala I tu se nesto u meni prelomilo, kao da sam tada shvatila da se desava nesto ozbiljno. Jos uvijek sam tada mislila da je to ozbiljno locirano na Kinu. Bio je to neki kraj sijecnja. Pod tim nekim novim dojmom ozbiljnosti situacije spontano sam reagirala I u nedostaku rijeci podrske zagrlila sam cvrsto svog prijatelja. Ziyi koji se uvijek smijesi se uozbiljio, zatekla sam ga svojim zagrljajem I samo je rekao: “Morat cu reci svim svojim prijateljima da ovdje postoje neki jako dragi ljudi.” Rekla sam mu da se cuva I tu smo se rastali.
Sad sam vec sa puno vecom paznjom slusala vijesti o epidemiji koja je prijetila da postane pandemija sa izvorom u Kini. Uskoro sam cula za kinerskog doktora Li Wenlianga (34) koji je preminuo nakon infekcije korona virusom. On je bio prvi doctor koji je uocio da se radi o novom, opasnom virusu I 30. Prosinca poslao obavijest svojim kolegama doktorima da postoji opasnost zaraze novim virusom I upozorio ih da nose zastitu. Na veliku stetu, kineska vlast je optuzila Dr Wenlianga da siri lazne vijesti I trazila da demantira svoje upozorenje. Tragicno Dr Wenliang se pocetkom sijecnja zarazio virusom, I pocetkom veljace vec preminuo od njega.
Tokom veljace postalo je jasno da je epidemija dosla u Evropu I to na vrata Italije. Vijesti iz Italije su bile iznimno sokantne I zabrinjavajuce I ja sam se uplasila za svoje prijatelje iz pokrajine Lombardija u kojoj je bio centar zaraze. Postalo je jasno da se pandemija siri velikom brzinom I da kuca na nasa vrata. Stizale su vijesti o smrtima I umiranjima I ja sam u to vrijeme bila istinski zabrinuta za svog Doka. Nikako mi nije bilo jasno kako bi uopce bilo moguce da se doktori opce prakse zastite. U to sam ga vrijeme I vidjela I nisam mogla izdrzati da ne podijelim svoju zabrinutost sa njim. Odgovorio mi je vrlo opusteno da on nije rizicna skupina I nije djelovao zabrinuto. Utjesio me samo djelomicno I gotovo sam mu rekla “Niti, Dr Wenliang nije bio rizicna skupina”, ali sam tu svoju misao ipak zadrzala za sebe. Strahovala sam za njega sve dok nije stiglo cjepivo kad sam konacno mogla odahnuti.
Moj se prijatelj Ziyi vratio u Kinu u ljeto 2020 sa planom da se vrati u Cambridge za dva mjeseca. Nazalost njegov se povratak stalno odgadja zbog pandemije I ja se nadam da ce ovo predstojece ljeto ipak uspjeti doci na nekoliko mjeseci. Ziyi je citao moj blog dok je bio u Cambridgeu I cesto komentirao moje pisanje. Nazalost Kina restriktira dostupnost podacima na Internetu I Ziyi nije u mogucnosti pratiti moj blog iz Kine. Aplikacije kao sto je WhatApp I Viber su isto zabranjene.
Sada godinu I malo vise nakon sto se svijetom pocela siriti pandemija imamo cjepivo I zato mozemo biti optimisticni. Vecina mojih prijatelja se cijepila, ali nazalost ne svi. Nadam se da ce svi moji prijatelji uloziti napor da se cijepe sto je skorije moguce. Strah od cijepljenja je iracionalan, opasnost od zaraze I komplikacija je vrlo realna.
S ljubavlju,
Kristina
Nedelja, 2. svibnja 2021.
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