WUHAN, China – Benjamin Wilson, a Louisiana resident living in the Chinese city where the Covid-19 virus was first identified a year ago, is watching the disappointment at home with disappointment.
“I would be very scared if I lived in the United States,” said Wilson, who has lived in Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Hubei province, for nearly two decades. “I did not really think I would be where I am now, worrying more about my family than about myself.”
The contrast between his homeland and his adopted home is strong, the English teacher said. Although he endured more than 70 days of strict lock-in, he sometimes felt ‘trapped’, and it was a sacrifice that was locked inside the house, he said.
Now Wuhan is ‘one of the safest places in the world’, he added.
More than 338,000 people have died from coronavirus so far in the United States, more than anywhere else in the world and more Americans than died in combat during World War II, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
While many health experts, including dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the outbreak in the US would only get worse.
President Donald Trump’s government has been criticized for disrupting the response to the 2020 public health crisis. Trump held mask-free rallies, appeared to promote unproven virus treatments, and later tested positive for himself.
Trump maintained that he had taken early steps to halt the spread of the virus, including access to some foreigners, including those who had traveled from China. Despite this, America is still the largest number of cases of coronavirus and deaths on the planet.
Wuhan, meanwhile, tested its entire population of 11 million in June and, according to state media, recently began vaccinating key groups in the city.
In China, a country of about 1.4 billion people, the government said the virus had killed more than 4,600 people, the majority in Wuhan – although experts say the statistics should be treated with caution.
Earlier this week, a national antidote study showed that more than 4 percent of Wuhan’s 11 million people may have been exposed to the coronavirus – ten times the number officially recorded by mid-April.
However, it is undeniable that the virus has taken a very devastating toll on America.
Epidemic ‘handled well’
One year later, Wuhan’s streets are buzzing with activity. A new exhibit filled with photos and interactive exhibits that pay homage to how Wuhan fought the virus has attracted thousands of visitors.
Meanwhile, residents say they have government authorities to thank for returning to life in the country.
“Now that the epidemic has been dealt with properly, our lives are gradually getting back on track,” a pensioner, Yang Xiuhua, 67, told NBC News.
According to the state-run Global Times, according to the state-run Global Times, China has mobilized nearly 43,000 medical personnel from January to March 1949.
But the ghost of the virus still threatens in Wuhan. Li Chuanbi, 70, said that although he can now practice in the park and meet friends, he remains cautious.
“It would be a lie to tell you I’m not worried,” he said. “People are worried that the pandemic will return.”
Many people in Wuhan still wear masks and businesses control the temperature and provide disinfectants in this city that embraces the Yangtze River. But shops and restaurants are buzzing, schools are open and streets are busy again.
Striking photos reflecting the quick bounce have gone viral on social media.
One visual swimmer packed into a Wuhan water park while a DJ took to the stage – an interesting image from the original virus epicenter, as Covid-19 continues to elevate the lives of billions around the world.
Not without criticism
However, China’s handling of the pandemic has not been without fierce criticism.
The timeline of early events was scrutinized, raising questions about whether Beijing acted quickly enough to warn the World Health Organization of evidence of human transmission.
The first clusters of an unexplained disease were reported to the WTO office in Beijing on 31 December. Detailed information on the ‘viral pneumonia of unknown cause’ was provided to 44 identified patients on January 3, according to the WHO.
Reports also emerged that the ruling Chinese Communist Party had suppressed information about the virus, with police disciplining a doctor, Li Wenliang, after sounding the alarm in a chat group. Li later died of Covid-19 and caused a public uproar. The government posthumously described him as a ‘martyr’.
On January 23, local authorities closed Wuhan, while other parts of China were also closed. The drastic response apparently worked, as the city was unlocked months later in April.
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Another victim of the coronavirus was the already vicious relations between America and China, with the pandemic accelerating their decline.
Trump accused the WHO of acting as a ‘puppet of China’ and not warning the world adequately about the virus, the global health body claims to deny. In July, the US officially notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the WHO.
Trump further fueled resentment, often through racist rhetoric, by referring to the pathogen as the “China virus” or the “Wuhan virus.”
The White House also claimed, without providing evidence, that the virus was manufactured or accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China claims.
In January 2021, the WHO will lead a mission of ten international investigators from Covid-19 to China, with a visit to Wuhan, health officials said. The fact-finding mission will, among other things, investigate the origin of the virus.
However, with the division over technology trading, relations between the two largest economies in the world have declined since the outbreak. In September, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Washington and Beijing to ‘do everything possible to avoid a new Cold War’.
‘Horror story’
Amid the deteriorating relations between the two superpowers, Christopher Suzanne, an American, said he “unequivocally” made the right choice to return to Wuhan during the pandemic, as several of his family members in the US have since virus.
The 34-year-old teacher, who has lived in Wuhan since 2009, returned to the city with his family in March after baptizing his baby boy in New York State.
“Just the feeling of being in Wuhan, it’s like it’s such a success story amidst a horror story,” he told NBC News.
“It was extremely difficult for the family to say goodbye, not to know when or how I would be able to go home again. But the decision in my heart was very easy,” he said and wanted to return to his wife. ‘s family in Wuhan.
Although his mental health was difficult, Suzanne said that he is now back at work and feels that life is returning to normal.
But he acknowledged that the virus had soured relations between Washington and Beijing.
Suzanne looked at the United States from a distance and said his American compatriots looked ‘so divided’ that whoever was in the White House was irrelevant if people could not agree on the basics or whether they should wear a mask.
“I’m worried about my family,” he said. “It demands me.”
Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Wuhan; Adela Suliman from London reported.