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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGutian Bridge, Wuhan, China. Photo: Chen.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The traditional Qixi Festival usually comes at the end of August in the Gregorian calendar. In modern Chinese culture, people celebrate this day as Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 lovers exchange gifts and merchants promote sales. This year in Wuhan, where COVID-19 first emerged and tormented the city for months, people relished this romantic holiday through retaliatory consumption and outdoor activities. Wuhan has regained its economic vitality and prosperity at an even faster pace than many other places on Earth. Still, after the virus was brought under control, pandemic-related mental health problems began to enter the public eye. In fact, trauma treatment and psychological counselling will become major public issues in the post-pandemic era \u2013 for Wuhan and the rest of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen (out of privacy concern, she asked to use her first name only) is a second-year doctoral student majoring in media and communications at a university in Beijing, who grew up in Wuhan. Chen and her parents stayed in isolation for over 90 days, during which time both she and her father suffered from severe depression and anxiety. Moreover, Chen\u2019s personal experience of being verbally bullied by one of her schoolmates to some extent reflects the collective plight of Wuhan residents in the early stage of the pandemic. Although such stigmatization has gradually decreased as people\u2019s understanding of COVID-19 deepens, the long-term mental health recovery of the epicenter\u2019s residents deserves more awareness and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen Zhong Nanshan\u2019s name was once again tied to an outbreak, everyone began to feel nervous.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne day, my friend called me to buy some \u2018N95,\u2019\u201d Chen said, \u201cI had even no idea what that was then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many Wuhan residents, Chen did not take it seriously when rumors of an \u201cunidentified virus\u201d spread on Weibo \u2013 the most widely used social media platform in China \u2013 in mid-December 2019. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe a word. I thought that was just the most common spam online,\u201d Chen said. But her attitude entirely changed after reading in mainstream media such as CCTV News and Chutian Metropolis Daily that the leading pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan visited Wuhan and confirmed that such virus existed and was \u201ctransmissible among people.\u201d \u201cMy family started to panic because we all trust Zhong Nanshan. You know, he has long been a household name,\u201d Chen said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhong Nanshan is one of the most famous scientists in China. Zhong gained his fame for managing the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, a pandemic that infected over 5,000 people and killed over 300 people in Mainland China. \u201cI think most of us still have fresh memories about SARS \u2013 Beijing was locked down, schools were closed, someone took your temperature wherever you went. So, this time when Zhong Nanshan\u2019s name was once again tied to an outbreak, everyone began to feel nervous,\u201d Chen explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen and her mother rushed out to stock up on daily supplies and sanitary products on January 21, preparing for a spontaneous stay at home, not knowing how long it might last. \u201cWhat happened later proved that we were still too na\u00efve,\u201d Chen laughed bitterly and said, \u201cMy mother taunted me for picking rice and oil \u2013 \u2018You\u2019re overreacting<\/em>.\u2019 So, I didn\u2019t end up taking them but just bought some snacks and instant noodles, which were not sufficient for even a week. Of course, we guessed there would be a lockdown, but no one expected the lockdown would last that long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The official notice regarding the Wuhan lockdown came in the early hours of January 23. Chen remembered clearly that she stayed up almost all night, observing what was on the social media platforms, Weibo and Douban, and could not help feeling worried. On the one hand, reports said that the situation in the hospitals was worsening. The province lacked capacity to conduct nucleic acid tests; infections were rising rapidly; and doctors still knew little about how to treat this new virus. On the other hand, she saw a flood of discriminatory remarks about Wuhan in the public sphere from people in other regions of China. Internet speeches blamed Wuhan people\u2019s dietary habits, blamed them for taking the virus to the whole country, and blamed them for traveling out of the province. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThose censures are too arrogant. Wuhan is a megacity with so many local residents and migrant workers \u2013 it\u2019s impossible to make everyone stay where they are right away, especially during the Chinese New Year holidays,\u201d Chen said, dismayed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere was a moment I felt like something choked me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Strict lockdown measures came into effect in the morning of January 23: public transportation was suspended, all the courier companies were out of service, residents were not allowed to go out and must self-report their daily temperature to their community\u2019s temporary pandemic prevention office via WeChat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The community supermarket published their \u201cweekly combo\u201d information to the WeChat group so that Chen could order food online and collect it at a fixed time every week. Delivery motorcyclists were almost the only group who were able to move around the streets freely. \u201cThanks to the government\u2019s price-limiting initiatives, the prices of living materials were not rising at all. But the delivery fee increased dozens of times. That was understandable, but we rarely bought food in this way due to the high costs,\u201d Chen introduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Chen\u2019s family did not store enough food in the first two weeks of the quarantine, they decided to eat only one meal every day. Later, when the food supply became relatively abundant, they still kept this \u201crule\u201d \u2013 an early sign of the pandemic\u2019s lingering psychological impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat may sound like an exaggeration,\u201d Chen said, \u201cbut the uncertainty about the future could really kill you. Checking the filled fridge was the source of my sense of security.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen used to check the fridge every day. Photo: Chen.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAround one month later, my father was troubled by serious psychological problems,\u201d Chen said painfully, \u201che used to be such a gregarious guy who dined out and played mahjong (a traditional Chinese tile-based game) with friends almost every night. He is a businessman \u2013 social activities are not only part of his job but also his biggest hobby. And aged people like him were unaccustomed to text or call friends through communication software, which aggravated his loneliness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, Chen\u2019s father\u2019s physical and mental condition declined further: insomnia, irritability, and reluctance to talk. Since Chen\u2019s family has a few relatives working in hospitals, any message from them would make him nervous and worried. Even the good news such as the fast development of medical treatment failed to dispel his concerns. \u201cActually, my father is not good at expressing feelings to the closest people,\u201d Chen said, \u201cto him, telling his wife or daughter about his anxiety will undermine his masculinity. So, he would rather remain silent, which makes things worse.\u201d With nothing else to do, Chen\u2019s father vented his anger and anxiety through excessive exercise \u2013 running on a treadmill for more than four hours a day. With such a large amount of physical exertion, coupled with inadequate food intake, he lost about 30 pounds in 40 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs for myself, I was almost getting used to the new lifestyle and doing my best to continue academic activities online,\u201d Chen recalled, \u201cbut what happened at the end of February completely scared me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a doctoral student, Chen needed to keep in close contact with other students mentored by the same professor. There were seven students in Chen\u2019s academic group, and they mostly shared information through WeChat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne day, I asked a schoolmate to send me a paper material but didn\u2019t get a reply. Hours later, I texted her again,\u201d Chen said, \u201cthen she sent me a picture of a blood-stained dead mouse and said, \u2018I wish you a happy Rat Year. Stay in Wuhan, and you\u2019re poisonous enough to kill any virus<\/em>.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere was a moment I felt like something choked me,\u201d Chen said in as calm a tone as possible, \u201cI still can\u2019t believe these vicious words coming from an educated woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen cried several times after the horrible experience, but she chose not to tell her parents because \u201cthey were depressed enough.\u201d From then on, Chen, the only one able to cheer the family up, stopped telling jokes during lunch time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s always fun to help others.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The attempts to self-heal ran through Chen\u2019s entire quarantine. In the beginning, she tried common methods such as meditation and mindfulness training but received minimal effect. She also tried talking to a psychotherapist online, but due to a lack of face-to-face communication, it was difficult to build trust and she abandoned this kind of treatment quickly. Although a few friends actively showed their care about her quarantine life, those \u201csuperficial communication\u201d such as \u201chow\u2019s your life\u201d \u201ceverything will be alright\u201d not only did not help her to gain relief but made her even more tired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI appreciated their concern, but more often, I felt like I was the one who comforted others,\u201d Chen said, \u201cand I couldn\u2019t stop thinking of being infected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, signs of revival appeared after a long phone call with a more senior classmate in her graduate program. During an online discussion in March, Chen could not control her emotions and cried in front of the camera. The presiding student canceled their meeting and called her immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe shared his personal story of the isolation in Beijing during the SARS pandemic in 2002. That was exactly what I needed \u2013 a person who had the same experience and understood me,\u201d Chen said, \u201che told me the Internet was underdeveloped and there were no social media then, so he was able to make full use of the time to focus on his favorite literature.\u201d After that warm call, Chen felt a little relieved. Additionally, she reduced her time spent online and tried to focus on her academic project. Although self-healing was still a bumpy process, she began to accept her anxiety and pain.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, the number of daily confirmed cases in Wuhan continued to decline. At the community level, rigorous quarantine requirements loosened. For example, the temporary community management team \u2013 consisting of street officers, neighborhood committee, and property management staff \u2013 posted volunteer recruiting information in the WeChat group to engage residents in distributing household items and sanitary products. Chen\u2019s father signed up for volunteer activities. His main job was to help the elderly with reduced mobility to pick up those items. He said that the volunteer work was not only his sole chance to go out of his apartment, but also the only source of happiness during his quarantine since \u201cit\u2019s always fun to help others.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A \u201cstrange duality\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuhan officially lifted travel restrictions on April 8, 2020, after the 11-week lockdown. But Chen\u2019s family did not leave their community until May out of fear of dense crowds. At first, they just took a 10-minute walk in front of their apartment building, and they increased the length of outdoor activities day by day. In May, Wuhan held a grand light show to celebrate the achievements of fighting the coronavirus, but Chen\u2019s mother opted not to leave her room. As Chen explains, her mother is still worried about going out even with masks and latex gloves and has a new habit of hoarding food and doing thorough house cleaning almost every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of June, Chen embarked on a trip to Hunan province to visit a friend. When she arrived at the hotel, the front desk manager noticeably hesitated to process the check-in after seeing Wuhan as the \u201cplace of issue\u201d on her ID. Despite Chen\u2019s repeated explanation that she was allowed to travel and posed no threat of contagion, the hotel manager insisted on placing her in a corner room on the highest floor and \u201cadvised her not to go out but stay at where she was from.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the ticket office of a scenic spot in Changsha, Hunan, Chen told the conductor that she was from Wuhan in response to the greeting \u201cwhere are you from.\u201d However, after hearing her words, several tourists around her immediately covered their masks with hands and ran away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Chen felt aggrieved, she said those actions were \u201cunderstandable\u201d since \u201cfear is natural.\u201d But she also said that unprovoked fear was still hurting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen said that there was a \u201cstrange duality.\u201d On the one hand, she felt the whole society cared about the residents in the pandemic epicenter: scenic spots and restaurants organized coupons exclusively for Hubei people, her favorite blogger posted original comics to encourage them, and the well-respected Zhong Nanshan called Wuhan a \u201chero city.\u201d On the other hand, based on the suspicion she personally encountered, Chen believed that in the short term, people still could not completely eliminate their concerns toward anything related to Wuhan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chen said the reason why she was able to mentally recover from the outbreak was the company of her parents and the support of friends. Such power could always help her to overcome the occasional unpleasantness. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important lesson for me,\u201d she said. In fact, the outbreak leaves an important lesson for almost everyone: it allows us to re-examine the interpersonal relationships with both close ones and strangers. As COVID-19 continues to plague the planet, everyone should probably remember which one we are fighting: virus or people. Meanwhile, the outbreak also provides a good opportunity for more people to face up to their mental health conditions. In the post-pandemic era, how to help those people eliminate the mental haze should become a global focus. <\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/yDySQTQinKdvWoAXxF6yDVFVRAH2FHbRzgDOHDZXxLTCozv8A_AgMRIZ7KJG7_2JfPicaynlf_gGx0-R8wgcu6J0hMFX84JfzLLsAFVtGB4J3HFX_En6PlDLVfxeNwTMk17C44J3\")