Look out over bangor street from the pontio rooftop
At the beginning of this year, I had just been in the UK for about two weeks, and the new crown virus outbreak in the country suddenly broke out. Recently, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Iran and other countries have fallen one after another. Originally, I still had a bit of luck, thinking that the English Channel between the United Kingdom and the European continent may become a "fish that slipped through the net" under the rapid attack of the epidemic. With a convenient and global transport system and holidays in common, the ski slopes of northern Italy have always been popular holiday destinations for the British. Within days, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK quadrupled to 53. For a country that does not have a vast land area, such a base of diagnosis is terrible.
For a time, "coronavirus outbreak" became the most frequent search term for BBC news in the United Kingdom, and the front page headlines of local newspapers were also occupied by related reports. The Chinese students who exchanged and visited Bangor University reminded me to quickly stock up supplies, and they could help me buy the N95 masks of boots. In the Chinese study abroad circle, everyone rushed to tell each other to make preparations for epidemic prevention as soon as possible.
The main teaching building of Bangor University
However, many British natives are very calm, and can even be said to be indifferent. Take my three British roommates, George, Tom and Oliver, all from England: Southampton, Birmingham and Sheffield. Tom's hometown, Birmingham, in particular, is the second most populous city in the UK. Returning to school after this holiday, they returned to our dormitory from home boat and car, and they did not wear masks the whole time, which was the same as usual. When they saw me wearing a mask, they were all full of surprise, funny and incredible.
"You can stock up on some masks, and some food with a long shelf life, and during the recent outbreak, try to go out as much as possible." When I met in the kitchen, I raised the door and instructed. "No, no, I don't wear a mask," Tom smiled innocently and cutely, with a mischievous look in his blue eyes, but his attitude was resolute, "that's something that patients only wear, or doctors who are in close contact with patients need it, and I'm in good health." "But the new crown virus has a fourteen-day incubation period, and those who wear masks are not necessarily sick, but more for their own protection." He saw my kindness, comforted me to relax, and while still insisting on his point of view, he brought back a group of friends and had a party in the living room that night.
Bangor University JP Theatre
In contrast, Georgia is slightly more vigilant, and she has stockpiled a few bottles of germicidal hand sanitizer from morrison supermarkets and diligently opened the kitchen window to ventilate. There is nothing more to be done. "I'm one of the fewer friends," she said as she took a plate of peas from the oven and ate them, "and many of my friends around me think the media is exaggerating — 80% of Britons will be infected in the worst case of a virus outbreak. Besides, the fatality rate of this disease is less than 2%, so there is no need to panic too much. "I'm curious that our country has been promoting to citizens that they must wear masks when they go out during the pandemic, because the disease is mainly transmitted through saliva." But your government only advocates handwashing, so why not emphasize the importance of wearing a mask? I don't know how "Sherbon ends" is said in English, but Georgea seems to have heard this layer of meaning between my words. "We grew up and never had the habit of wearing a mask," she scratched her head and smiled a little embarrassed, "in our concept, if you go out and wear a mask, you are tacitly ill." Unless symptoms do occur, no one wants to be misconstrued as a patient. Moreover, we see someone wearing a mask on the road, but a little angry, the most instinctive reaction is: you already have an infectious disease, why come out and shake, not at home honestly to recuperate? Listening to Georgegia's words, I finally understood why when I walked on the road with a mask, I often received strange eyes and the "reason" that some Chinese students wearing masks were beaten on the street.
At present, the number of confirmed cases in the UK is still climbing day by day, and there are even two times a record of breaking through ten cases in a single day. In addition to calling on people to wash their hands frequently, the British government has not taken more substantive measures: such as clarifying the way the virus spreads saliva and emphasizing that wearing masks can be effectively protected; such as restricting the movement of people and isolating Italian returnees for fourteen days; such as school closures, company closures, and the cancellation of large crowd gatherings to prevent the further spread of the virus... None of the above routine operations are available. At Bangor University, where I work, for example, teachers are enthusiastically attending strike rallies, while teachers who do not participate in strikes are in normal school classes. The administrator of the St. Mary's dormitory area where I live also sent a notice of dormitory friendship as usual, encouraging everyone to go out of the room, make friends and experience the multinational culture. In addition, the Pontio Civic Center is crowded, and lectures and theatrical performances are still going according to plan...
Bangor University Library
Yesterday, Christine, who is in charge of the security of international exchange students, sent us an email to inform us: "The new crown virus is only spreading on a small scale in the UK, don't panic, enjoy life." But the number of confirmed cases that day has risen to 39, but she wrote 23 a few days ago. If the Welsh region where Bangor is located is relatively safe (there is currently only 1 confirmed case), people do not pay enough attention to the extenuating circumstances, then after asking a circle of friends studying in England, I am completely confused: London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham, these densely populated cities, people do not take the new crown virus seriously, the subway, buses, trains, restaurants, scenic spots are overcrowded. Except for the fact that hand sanitizer in pharmacies and supermarkets is unusually popular, the days are no different from before. My roommate Anna, who had just returned from a trip to London, exclaimed: "Whenever someone next to me coughs, I get flustered. I was a little scared. However, she herself still adheres to the "three noes" principle of not wearing a mask, not hoarding food, and not giving up bars.
Outside the window, there was a light rain, and it was another gloomy day. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the British official will announce the latest number of confirmed cases. Friends in the study abroad circle are enthusiastically discussing returning to China, and I also sent an email to Bangor University. In the days of waiting for a reply, I will still insist on wearing a mask when I go out, and I will do my best to persuade more students around me to wear masks and enhance my awareness of prevention. This is not only a kindness of me, an oriental, but also a sincere concern as a fellow student!
4 March 2020, Bangor, Wales, UK