Diagnosed people, not just numbers
Every time we see the number of confirmed cases updated at the press conference on the epidemic, we can’t help but wonder: Who is the person behind these numbers? We know more about confirmed cases than about actual patients. In the third year of the epidemic, we often feel a “numb” helplessness about the growth of data, and are more eager to understand the specific experience in addition to the numbers. This experience has nothing to do with the time and place in the epidemiological investigation, but about the specific symptoms after their diagnosis, what medicine they took, how long it took to recover, and whether they fully returned to their previous life after recovery.
The editorial department of Shandu tried to contact several friends who had been diagnosed with the disease. Some of them were in Shanghai, and they entered the shelter with their husband one after another. They experienced the simple environment of the shelter, the transfer between the shelters, and the two negative certificates could not be issued. Difficulties in the makeshift cabin; someone in Frankfurt spent nearly 3,000 euros in a hospital for a week; someone in Toronto became the last person in the company to be diagnosed, and has yet to tell their parents in China; our intern in Spain was diagnosed a while ago , being approached by roommates without any care or awareness of prevention and control, as if he was the only one who was frightened… We saw specific people from their stories.
The following is their self-narrative, individual stories are always one-sided, but also true.
Tian Tian
Coordinates: Toronto
Self-made, optimistic and struggling free Oda in Toronto
In early May, I got sun. It can be said that it is not surprising, after all, three days ago, my roommate just had a masculine.
At the end of February, the teacher’s roommate finally switched from online to offline work, and inevitably had a lot of contact with people. For positive, she was already prepared. At the beginning of May, after the self-test confirmed positive, she communicated with the school to ask for leave, and the school colleagues voluntarily began to arrange shifts and substitute classes. Colleagues are already familiar with this process: in the beginning, the teacher in the next class was Yang, and the substitute teacher was on top. When the teacher returned to his post, the substitute teacher was Yang again. This time, the substitute teacher was good, and the roommate was Yang… In this unavoidable leave of absence that everyone acquiesced in, “revolutionary friendship” naturally formed, and everyone was ready for their own yang and the need to substitute for others when they were yang. The same is true in our company. I used to run the work that required going out for my colleagues who could not go out. Now it is their turn to help me.
I am the last male in the company. My “seniors” include a 70-year-old uncle and a 30-year-old elder brother – there is also a baby in his family who is just over 100 days old. He was also diagnosed and brought to the hospital. , The doctor said that there is no need to prescribe medicine, the child has a low-grade fever, and he recovered by himself in three days. It is strange that the older uncle and this young child have much milder symptoms than those of us “middle-aged”.
My friends and I had similar symptoms, basically no high fever, but both experienced unbearable sore throats. It took about two weeks from the confirmation of positive to the disappearance of all symptoms, in which the sore throat was concentrated in three or four days. In those days, apart from taking Tylenol, I almost slept through it. The house was quiet. Even when I was awake, my roommate and I communicated by gestures. Our throat hurt like a knife when we drank water. We even avoided talking.
Saturday’s park, image courtesy of Tian Tian
By the time I recap this process, my life has long since returned to normal. But to this day, I still haven’t told my parents in China that I once had Yang.
Every time they video with their parents, they show a great fear of the new crown virus. They are not worried about the symptoms after the illness, nor about the isolation and treatment that they will receive, but they are convinced of the power of the sequelae. I once described to them the state of my colleagues after their recovery, which is no different from their previous life, but my mother said that the sequelae will be seen in two years, but it has not been manifested for the time being. This is something that I cannot refute or prove to myself. I can’t be sure that I will always be healthy in the future, and I can’t prove that every subsequent illness I have has nothing to do with the new crown positive this time, so I can only choose to keep silent and be a person in the world of my parents who will never be infected with the new crown virus, and will never be infected with the new crown virus. People with sequelae.
Xiao Xiao
Coordinates: Shanghai
Part-time Swing Dance Teacher
On the evening of April 4th, I received a call from the CDC, saying that the mixed sample from my tube was positive, and I would review it tomorrow.
In the early morning of April 6th, I became the first batch of patients in the Fangcang cabin of the Wan gymnasium in Xujiahui.
After receiving the call, I immediately went to foster the puppy at home, as well as wash my hair and bathe. Both of these things were reactive: there were already news that the puppy was killed after the owner was pulled away, and it was also revealed that some square cabins were in a mess. At 12 o’clock in the morning, the CDC called me and told me to wait for the transfer. At 3am, I got a call again to get me downstairs and into the car.
The cabin was densely covered with beds. The building itself is safe with no rain leaks, but there is nothing in it except for bedside tables, quilts and pillows. Some people only carried a travel bag and went without toothpaste and toothbrushes, because the CDC promised them that they had everything in it when they called… I still had symptoms of cough and low-grade fever at the time, there was no hot water to drink, only Two vials of Nongfu Spring. Sick and cold, the gym lights were on all night long.
The way of drying clothes in the square cabin, the picture is provided by Xiao Xiao
In fact, two weeks before I came to Fangcai, on March 22, I just got married. Shortly after entering the cabin, my husband also tested positive. I call him every day and ask if anyone has informed you that you are coming, come and accompany me quickly. But he has not been notified. Later, the neighbors in the same building had opinions, and they called the police from the balcony, and also called the neighborhood committee to ask the person who was yang, why was not transferred away? My husband can hear it at home. As soon as the policy of “receivables should be collected” came out, he received a call to transfer to the cabin, and he would not review it. That day was April 18th, and after all this time, he had already recovered.
Although a lot of absurd things happen every day, I think that in the absurdity, there are many people who are trying to increase their weight, many people are solving problems in a vocal way, and some people are doing things that “raise the gun an inch”.
When I first went in, 24 hours a day, it was hard. I often sit in a relatively ventilated place beside the nurse’s desk and listen to people quarreling. Usually, it is the uncles and aunts in Shanghai who go to fight. They are too powerful! Young people are generally very quiet. Many people bring their computers to meetings from morning to night, or use their mobile phones. Older people often get together to chat, complain when they chat, and quarrel when they complain. As long as there is one person to report the problem, there will be someone watching the fun, and you will talk to me.
I didn’t particularly like quarrels, but I found it miraculously that as long as you quarrel, things will come. At the beginning, people went to the nurse’s desk every day to quarrel. After three or four days of quarrelling, the water dispenser with hot water came. On the seventh and eighth day, toothpaste, toothbrush and washbasin are also available. I wrote “I was in the cabin, I saw the old people survive on the island”, her bed is five or six meters next to me. After this article was seen by everyone, some actual changes happened in our cabin, For example, if an elderly person with poor physical condition turns over, it becomes more convenient for them to apply for transfer to a hotel.
It was said that someone “raised the muzzle an inch” because after my husband really came to the cabin, he quickly tested negative twice and could leave the cabin, but I felt that I might be pregnant at the time, and I hoped he would stay. Accompanying and taking care of him, the staff acquiesced to him to stay. I think he really came down from the sky like a fairy and rescued me. He brought in a lot of goodies, even a whole cantaloupe. I used to be a part-time swing dance teacher, and I met him in class. Now someone can come and practice with me. After eating, we will dance in the small square in front of the cabin.
Xiao Xiao teaches her husband dance steps in a small square, photographed by @ 月日Hayami
How to test negative twice in a row is really metaphysical. After living in the Fangcang, we did not receive any treatment except one time when we received ten bags of proprietary Chinese medicines in a row. Most people get better in a while. I kept going back and forth between yin and yang, but in fact, my body couldn’t feel better. After a negative test was detected in the square cabin of the Wanshi Hall, we were collectively transferred to another square cabin and tested negative again. We were both very happy and felt that we could go home together. As a result, we were not on the discharge list that night. The official reason is that the data between the cabins is not interoperable, and they do not recognize the discharge report that the previous cabin gave to my husband.
Looking back now, it turns out that we also had a fight. That day, we found people to communicate layer by layer, and we contacted the staff of the previous shelter by ourselves to help them exchange reports. The people in the new square cabin said that they could not contact the Wanshi Center. A group of people had a similar situation. Some people called the police, called 12345, and asked for the director and volunteers. From ten o’clock in the evening to three in the morning the next day. Even if you’re cured, it’s hard to get two negative reports, and no one wants to pass up the chance to go home.
Finally, the results came out. The new Fangcang recognized the previous negative report, but did not recognize the previous discharge report. So I can go home, but my husband can’t yet. As soon as I got in the car home, I started crying. It was April 26, and I had lived in the cabin for 22 days. See him again in two days.
I can really feel that everyone actually has a little bit of power, and together they are indeed a very powerful force. I’m very hopeful that this force will push us back to a normal world.
The college entrance examination study room in the square cabin, the picture is provided by Xiao Xiao
King Vale
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Italian student/entrepreneur/blogger with the same name at station B
The moment I was pulled away by the ambulance, I thought my life was about to end.
Because of the epidemic, I have not returned to China for four years after studying in Italy. The epidemic just broke out in Europe. During the period of isolation and isolation, I finished drying the front and back on the balcony, going back and forth, over and over, and even used the method of sticking stickers on the windows with a few neighbors on the opposite building. Chatted for days. I remember that this kind of day lasted about half a year. When the friends around me gradually returned to China because of the approaching graduation and the unbearable abandonment of the cat, I decided to stay, thinking that as long as I take precautions, I should not be infected.
And just like that, in July 2021, I contracted the delta virus.
Looking back now, I probably came into contact with the virus on the way from Basel, Switzerland, to Frankfurt, Germany, on the train from Basel, Switzerland, after my graduation trip to meet friends. The whole train was crowded with people and there was no safe distance, so I walked many cars before I found an empty seat. Unfortunately, one person in this carriage was coughing all the time. For two full hours, I was so frightened that I put on the mask tightly and didn’t dare to take it off, so I sat on my head to my destination.
On the third day of seeing my friend, I felt a strong hangover that lasted into the afternoon. I asked my friend, am I yang? Friends comfort me, maybe just tired, or catch a cold. On the morning of the fourth day, I had a fever and tested positive. I especially blame myself, not because of the fear of the virus itself, but because of the fear of spreading the virus to my friends without knowing it. I immediately notified all the friends I met. Strangely, and fortunately, none of my friends were caught.
The ambulance did not come right away. I got a response from the hospital and told me to go home and isolate myself and wait for a call from the CDC. During the few days of waiting, I repeatedly had a fever, until it reached 39.5 degrees. My senses of taste and smell were also gradually failing – to be precise, there was always a sour odor, which I always jokingly called the smell of the new crown. In the end, I had a high fever and difficulty breathing, and had to call the ambulance myself. Since my medical insurance is in Italy, I need to pay 800 euros for a round trip ambulance. The ambulance took me directly to the private hospital.
The day Vale was taken by ambulance
In the hospital, I was surprised to find that my room was arranged on the same floor as the hospitalized elderly. In the whole floor, besides me, there is only one other big brother who is a new crown patient. I walked to the registration office and saw a very kind old man walking in the corridor without a mask. The moment he rushed towards me, I took a step back.
I was put in a separate room, still having a fever and still having trouble breathing. The nurse only speaks German. When I asked in English if I could give me a fever medicine and an oxygen bottle, she paused for two minutes and said, “OK.” When she called her again, she said that these symptoms may be caused by my nervousness. Give me a sedative and two sleeping pills. I insisted that the doctor come. After calling back and forth, a doctor with indifferent eyes finally walked over to my bed and touched my forehead through three layers of gloves. He said I don’t have a fever. I asked, “Can I use a thermometer?”
I thought I could be discharged from the hospital if I stayed for one night, but I stayed for five days. No one told me how long I was going to stay. I just took fever-reducing medicines and infused normal saline, over and over again. More than once, I wondered if my longevity was coming to an end. For half a month, I had a fever of about 39.5 degrees every day. Even if the fever subsided, it only returned to 38.5 degrees, and then the fever came back again. In the panic, I also asked the fortune-telling brother recommended by my friend to figure out if I could survive this disaster. On the fifth day, the nurse suddenly informed me that it left after missing the ambulance, and quickly pulled out the needle for my saline infusion, helped me get dressed and sent to the car. The five-day treatment costs 2700 euros.
The ambulance took me back to a friend’s house for quarantine, and a week later, I returned to Italy with a negative cough, and the cough persisted for a while. When I look back on my hospital bed now, I keep wondering if there is anything I regret not doing. After I recovered, I started working out and started a business with my friends. Whenever someone asks me about this experience, I feel that my attitude towards life has become more courageous and positive. Luckily for me, I didn’t leave any aftereffects.
The day Vale was returned by ambulance
Iris
Coordinates: Granada, Spain
Spanish student/translator/chased by doctoral dissertation with stick
On April 16, Spain issued a rule that it is no longer mandatory to use masks indoors. So far, public transport has become the only place where masks must be worn.
A month later, I saw a weakly positive rapid screening result for the first time in a fever.
And two days later, I found that I was the only person around who took it seriously.
Because there were three other roommates in the shared house, I sent the photo to the group as soon as I tested positive, and took out the regular alcohol spray, hand sanitizer and mask. My plan is to leave the room as little as possible and use alcohol to sanitize the kitchen and toilet as soon as possible. Although the conditions do not allow for complete isolation, at least the roommates should be protected from mishaps as much as possible. Out of guilt, I apologized and said that if they wanted to buy quick screening kits, I could pay for the money—although a nucleic acid test here would cost 80 euros (about RMB 570), thankfully the Ministry of Health will soon. The uniform price of screening reagents is 2.94 euros (about RMB 21).
The next two days gradually exceeded my expectations: first, the Chinese roommate who had lived in Spain for 6 years warmly greeted me to have dinner with her; then while I was wearing a mask to cook, the Spanish roommate walked into the kitchen and started Small talk with me; eventually, my Moroccan roommate even knocked on my door in the middle of the night, trying to borrow a phone to call home. I am like a villain who is strong from outside and works at the same time, and repeatedly shouted in my heart, “Don’t come here.”
After gradually accepting this setting, a Spanish classmate came to me with a computer and went to the agency website to see the next room to rent. Me: “Do you know that I am positive?” The other party: “I have a cold, it’s alright.” I hesitated and agreed. The mask I wasn’t going to take off and the alcohol spray I kept at hand were my last struggles.
Three days later, I did another quick screening, and the result has returned to negative. My classmate said it was normal, and he commented on my positive result: “I was shocked, you said you had a fever, I thought you had monkeypox.” But I still decided to stay at home for the full 10 days. For someone who loves to stay at home, this is not difficult. There is a week’s worth of ingredients in the refrigerator, and Chinese supermarkets can deliver it to their homes for free as long as they buy more than 20 euros.
I often swipe on Weibo and sigh that the bottles of vitamin tablets I have are too ironic—before I came to Spain, after reading a few lists of necessary quarantine supplies, I bought a small bottle of all kinds of vitamins, just in case a certain closure occurred. What kind of diseases are caused by the lack of vegetables and fruits in the closed community.
At this time, I was nibbling on an apple, watching the southern European summer sunshine falling on the orange trees by the street outside the window, the elementary school students just after school chasing each other outside the yard, and the grandmothers on crutches were laughing and chatting while waiting for the bus , a tall and thin young man rides an electric skateboard along the street. The world seems to have already moved a step forward.
Two years after the pandemic hit, big festivals in Spain have gradually resumed. The picture shows the procession of the Corpus in Granada in 2022
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