Editor’s Note:
Coming to Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province as an art consultant in December 2019, Megan Kathleen Monroe, a young US woman from Corona, California, had never expected that she would end up living under lockdown during an epidemic. Now that the city has been released from lockdown, she is finally free to head out to enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of the city. She is now using her own eyes to observe the city’s revival and vitality as she continues her adventurous exploration of the city.
By Megan Kathleen Monroe
When Wuhan was reopened, I was absolutely elated. Just going out and walking around the city had me smiling. I think I even cried a little bit.
In Wuhan, the health codes of green, yellow, and red have been established to help the post-quarantine management. Green indicates that a user is symptom-free, yellow means that the user had contact with an infected person and still in a two-week quarantine, and red refers to an identified patient or pending. Only people with green codes and a regular body temperature can go out. My boss, Brandi, and I both have the green codes, so the first thing we did was to go grocery shopping.
During the quarantine, we could only order meals and groceries online and there were few options. After going through the tough time, stepping into the grocery store and seeing that many food options laid out in front of me made me feel like a kid in a candy store.
We bought a bunch of food that we had been craving for and hadn’t the chance to buy during the lockdown. There’s something really different about buying the merchandise.
The little things
On the first day Wuhan opened up the lockdown, we also had the local street food: beef noodles. Dining in at restaurants is not allowed, but being able to eat outside, even if it was not inside the restaurant, was so liberating.
Later, we went by Han Street, which is the most well-known walking street in Wuhan. Some clothing stores have opened up again there, and I got two casual clothes. That was amazing after 76 days without in-store shopping. It really makes me appreciate the little things in life.
We also stopped by a beautiful cherry blossom park by one of the lakes in Wuhan. I just adored sitting by the lake and breathing in the fresh air through my mask. There were a lot of people there, which was not surprising. Everyone is gearing to go out after the months of lockdown. I also saw the cutest baby at the park. It made me really happy.
Staying put
Now that the lockdown in Wuhan has been lifted, I really want to return to the US. However, I do not think now is a good time. Few flights are available, and they have several layovers in different countries. Any option is not ideal, and I do not want to get stuck alone in the middle. That would increase the risk of getting infected.
Now, the US is similar to how Wuhan was a few months ago. All of the states have declared states of emergency because of the virus, and most of the states, including my home state California, are under stay-at-home orders. However, people are not really staying inside as the governor has requested.
That means that if I go back, it would be returning to a state similar to when Wuhan was under lockdown. I would end up spending most of my time stuck at home again.
For now, I will be staying in Wuhan. Life here is slowly back to normal. I sleep, I eat, and I take walks around my community. Every day, I continue making TikTok videos of my daily life and the updates about the coronavirus pandemic. I also keep working on creating English lessons. I make videos of them and send them out to my kids.
With the end of the lockdown, I am hopeful that soon I will be able to get back to seeing my kids and teaching them in person since I miss being around them.
Even though the worst is behind us, we still have to work toward making sure that another outbreak doesn’t occur. The lockdown might be over, but there are still some rules about going out. We have to bring a sign in sheet and we are only allowed to go out for two hours at a time if we are on foot. But despite those rules, things just feel different. Everyone has a feeling of hope about them. People do not move as far away from you as before when you pass by them. The air is less tense. The end of the lockdown after so long has been a sign of recovery for everyone. Even with my mask on, I can breathe deeply again.
Megan Kathleen Monroe Photo: Courtesy of Megan Kathleen Monroe
