Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-03-16)

◼ COVID-19 /US Bloomberg Businessweek March 16, 2020

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*WHAT A TYPICAL LEISURE TRAVELER SHOULD EXPECT TO PAY, BASED ON CONSUMER AIRFARE SEARCHES. DATA: HAYLEY BERG, ECONOMIST

AT

HOPPER

Wuhan,China

Thetwowomenwereontheemptystreetsof

WuhanforthreehoursthatdayinJanuary.Zhu

E’Yan,61,pushedher86-year-oldmother,Ren

Zhengzai,downtheroadina wheelchair,tryingto

findthenearesthospitalwillingtotreata patient

witha fever.Allbusandtaxiserviceswereshut-

tered.Whentheyfinallygottoa hospital,thehall-

wayswerepackedwithpeoplecoughing,many

withIVfluiddripsonmakeshiftbeds.Zhusaton

thefloortheentirenightastheywaitedfora room.

Butnonewasavailable.Thenextdayshewheeled

hermother—untreated—homeonanotherthree-

hourtrek.

Inthenextfiveweeks,theywereturnedaway

byonehospitalafteranother—andbothwomenare

nowdead.LiYaqing,38,wasn’twithhermother

andgrandmotherwhentheirordealbegan;she’s

bya largeoutbreakliketheoneinItalyoreven

onethatspreadscity-wide.Sheexpectsshe’dbe

reimbursedforaccommodationandcarrental

if sheisforcedtocancelthetrip.“I’mpregnant

andhaveasthma,soI needtobecautiousaseven

theregularflucouldbedangerous,”shesays.

�StefanNicolaandCorinneGretler

reconstructedit fromphonecallsandtexts.In

Januaryhergrandmothercamedownwitha

fever.Rumorhadit thatpeoplewerecontract-

inga weirddiseaseneartheHuananSeafood

WholesaleMarket.Thefamilydidn’ttakeit seri-

ouslyatfirst,becausetheylivedfarfromthemar-

ketandLi’sgrannyrarelyleftthehouseexceptto

playmahjongwithherfriends.Then,aftera few

days,theoldladybegantohavetroublebreath-

ing.Atthesametime,therestofWuhanwent

intolockdown.

Onphonecalls,hermotherandgrandmother

toldLi—wholivedaloneinherownapartment—

abouttheillnessbutsaidsheshouldn’tvisit,

becausetheydidn’twanthertogetinfected.

Shecalledeveryonesheknewwhomighthave

influencetotrytogethelp.Limadehundreds

ofcalls—tothepolice,hospitalemergencylines,

governmentdirectories,andhotlineslistedby

netizens.Nooneanswered.Sheblastedposts

seekinghelponChinesesocialmediaincluding

WeChat,Weibo,andBytedance.Shepleadedfor

helpwiththelocalauthoritieswhoenforcedthe

quarantineonherneighborhood.Afterthree

daysa communityhospitalcalledtosaythere

wasa spotforLi’sgrandmother,butit wastoo

late.Shediedthatnight.Thecommunityauthori-

tiesthendispatchedpeopletodisinfectthewom-

an’sapartment.

Onthesameday,Li’smother,Zhu,camedown

witha fever.AtWuhanHankouhospital,herlungs

showedmildsignsofinfection.Butshetested

negativeonthenucleicacidtest,whichidenti-

fiesthevirusina patient’sbodythroughitsspe-

cificgeneticsequence.A lackoftestkitsandthe

unreliabilityoftestresultscausedmanypatients

tobeexcludedduringtheearlyweeksoftheout-

break.ThestafftoldZhutogohomeandtake

pillstobringdownherfever.Aftersixdaysofself-

quarantine, on Feb. 6, she began to have trouble

breathing and started vomiting. Three days later

the authorities moved her, not to a hospital but

to a hotel, where she continued to go untreated.

On Feb. 10, after more online pleading and

phone calls by Li, her mom was rushed to an

intensive care unit. She called Li to ask her to

tap more of her connections to get her into a

better hospital. “She was going through a men-

tal breakdown,” her daughter says. Zhu had seen

two of her wardmates die by then. “I told her,

‘You’re in the ICU because I pulled all the strings I

could,’ and she got upset and hung up the phone.”

Li would desperately try to find help—even

unproven cures—for her mother. But, she says of

the phone call, “that was our last exchange.”

What

is it like

to live

through

this?

What I’m

telling

my union

members

Sal Rosselli, president,

National Union of

Healthcare Workers,

Emeryville, Calif.

During the onset of the

HIV/AIDS epidemic in

the early 1980s, I was

living in San Francisco

and helping lead a large

health-care workers’

union in California. We

didn’t have all of the

answers on how the

disease was passed

from one person to

another and how best

to contain it.

OnceagainI find

myselfdealingwith

anational health

emergency which we

don’t yet know how to

fully contain. I tell our

membersthesame

thingaboutCovid-19

today as I did about

AIDS back then—that

wearegoingtoget

throughthistogether

withbrutalhonestyand

transparency.Health-

careworkers don’t

always know whether

they can trust their em-

ployers. As a union we

can help by monitoring

health-care providers,

determiningwhichones

arebestatprotecting

caregivers and holding

the others to that

standard. We don’t want

to scare people, but the

more honest and open

we are about the illness,

the faster we will learn

how to limit infections.

Caring for the sick is

a calling. Our members

are committed to

doing their jobs, but

they want to know that

their employers—and

government—won’t

take any shortcuts in

protecting their safety

or abandon them if they

become infected or

placedinquarantine.

Thelastthingwewant

is forcaregivers to be

afraid to seek treatment

themselves—and risk

spreading the illness to

patients—because they

can’t afford to be sick.

�As told to Cynthia

Koons