The Wuhan Lockdown by Guobin Yang

The Wuhan Lockdown

by Guobin Yang is a new book published by Columbia University Press, where it is chronicled also thanks to a lot of diaries entries, the so-called "Lockdown Diaries" of common citizens, what happened that first weeks of COVID-19 contagion in Wuhan. Wuhan is a city pretty populated, with circa 11 million of people and the city where, technically, people experienced the first, massive problems with  SARS-COV-2,  firstly classified as a sorta of unknown, but similar SARS-pneumonia. And the first case, let's remark it, unrelated to the famous fish market cases discovered later. 

The beginning of this epidemic in Wuhan, unfortunately, in the worsest period of the year: the end of the year in China is marked by beautiful and felt feasts, with familiar reunions, the case of the Lunar New Year: there were also two important congresses in the city, and other celebrations as well. People started to circulate a lot. The first case intercepted at Wuhan of Covid-19 has been reported in january first; but as you will read authorities tried all their best to keep this news secret. 

In particular when infected people became many more. It was embarassing, and the news that a new illness, potentially dangerous could kill wagons of people hadn't to be revealed. But...Pretty soon appeared clear that this one was an illness containing a temible human-to-human transmission, and some doctors reported it on WeChat. It was a disaster. Communicating via WeChat, in fact, a lady was discovered by other doctors, and was called by them: they asked her of speaking, personally speaking let me underline it!!! with all the people she had sent that message, explaining that the informations passed were strongly untrue. Another doctor, confirms that she hadn't told to her husband that there was a new serious illness spreading in her hospital, beause the news had to be kept secret.

Only January 23 Wuhan entered in the most severe lockdown seen in the world: WHO, on January 30 classified COVID a public health emergency of international concern, declaring that we were in a pandemic emergency on March 11. 

But...What happened to the doctors, nurses that at first interacted with this new, unknown illness, similar under many ways to the SARS that China had met along its way years before?

Well, there is to say that it was impossible to speak openly: who did it became an hero, like mr Li Wenliang became: largely treated in the book, this young doctor of just 37 years, died because of Covid-19: he was one of the few courageous doctors who denounced the arrival of a novel dangerous coronavirus with and an aggressive human-to-human transmission. At the same time, authorities, when understood that they had committed a horrible error treating bad Li Wenliang, dead at the beginning of February 2020 (also the precise moment of the departure of this poor doctor is still unknown) declared him a national hero. People haven't forgotten what this doctor did for them. Li was a spectacular, simple man, a bit over-weight, he wrote that his dad was more slim than him, once: passionate of food, he was a genuine person and that's why people loved him and love him for what he denounced. 

The entries of the diaries will give you an idea of how people lived the days of lockdown. These diaries are still existent and maybe they will remain online forever. 

The numerous entries of these online journalis were a cathartic way for expressing feelings, ideas, escapism in a moment of great emotive stress and big fear. 

Absolutely fabulous! The book can be read by everyone and I highly recommend it.

I thank Columbia University Press for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori