A Race Against Time: COVID19 Cont'd

When I first wrote about the Coronavirus relief effort for Wuhan on Feb 12th, I didn’t think I would write another update on the U.S. That day, just five and a half weeks ago, there were almost 60,000 cases in China. There were only 15 cases reported in the U.S. and it would take Italy a few more days to confirm its first case. I genuinely hoped that the suffering of the epidemic in China would not replicate in any other part of the world.

Thirty-nine days later, there are almost 60,000 cases in Italy, and the case count in the U.S. shot past 30,000. A lot happened in those five weeks, including WHO announcing COVID19 as a global pandemic. All of a sudden, we hear in the news that there are not enough test kits for the public and personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers in the U.S. A quarter of the Americans are now practicing self-quarantine, my husband and I included. Our life is changing. Our life has changed.

My heart, along with my fellow BFSU alums in the U.S., is with the medical workers fighting on the front lines. It is one thing to read about the shortage in the news, and it is another to work with desperate hospital representatives. When their acceptance criteria degrade over the days from “FDA approved N95 masks” to “ANY masks” as the number of cases increases and the available supplies fall short, you hear hopelessness. The hopelessness compounds when it comes from the very people who are our hope.

We scavenged over $22,000 worth of hazmat suits, hats, and boot covers for Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Maimonides Medical Center, but we don’t feel any better. The gap is massive across the U.S. healthcare system, it has not made to the administration’s top priority just yet, and what we could do is far from enough.

There is a glimpse of hope. Individuals can donate directly to over 100 hospitals through Mask Match and Find the Masks or join forces with NGOs like the Chinese American Civic Association. Furthermore, the leading companies for PPE — 3M, HoneyWell, DuPont, and McKesson — are American brands and ramping up the capacity can ease the shortage. I am hopeful that things would get better.

Next year marks the 10th year I live in the U.S., and it is home for me now. In a time of crisis, it is easy to shift the focus and argue with each other on Twitter to get a false sense of victory. But to see actual improvement it takes hard work. I want to see relentless prioritization from the administration towards providing crucial supplies to our medical workers and people in need.

Alumni of Beijing Foreign Studies University donated to this effort. This update is made possible with the input from Rui Wang, President of BSFU Alumni Association (North America) - BFSU America China Culture Exchange 501(c)(3), and Yuqi Lu, BFSU alumni. Rui lives in NYC and Yuqi lives in Ithaca, NY.

Cover image: SF after “Shelter-in-Place”. Photo credit: Squarespace Image Library.