The last several weeks have been very difficult for a billion Chinese, most of whom have had to self-isolate at home to avoid the Coronavirus. However, there are some exceptions. Some everyday people, in addition to the medical staff, have put their lives on the line to fight this epidemic. They are volunteers. Willis, a Lincoln sales manager of the northern region, was one of them.   

Willis lives in Shanghai with his parents, who have both retired from Wuhan Xiehe Hospital. Before the Spring Festival, his parents went back to Wuhan to purchase medicine, and they planned to fly to Japan for the Chinese New Year vacation afterwards. However, a sudden change disrupted their plan.

On Jan 18, Willis was informed that his father had felt sick and didn’t recover after a few days. He was alarmed about this situation, as he had heard some news about a certain pneumonia in Wuhan. He immediately canceled his trip to Japan and flew to Wuhan.

Fortunately, Willis made this quick decision to fly to Wuhan as two days after his return, the city was locked down. “I can’t imagine what might have happened during the Spring Festival if I had left my parents alone in Wuhan,” said Willis.

The extreme measures that have been taken in Wuhan tell a serious story. The outbreak has caused a severe shortage of medical resources.

After three CT tests, Willis’s father was confirmed infected with the COVID-19, and sent to the hospital, where Willis witnessed the serious shortage of medical resources, including masks, medical protective clothing and gloves, and disinfection materials. He decided to join the Volunteer League together with his friends to help fight against the epidemic.

Willis played a communicator role to help the hospital connect with donations from the community. Purchasing and mobilizing medical resources was a big problem. Willis said that some volunteers had to drive hundreds of miles at night to other restricted areas to purchase medical resources for donation in Wuhan. Other volunteers formed a dedicated team to transport the medical staff to and from work due to the shutdown of Wuhan’s public transportation.

As a volunteer, Willis has witnessed hundreds of moving moments. The most memorable one involved a young nurse. Willis was helping to ship medical resources to the hospital and had also given rides to some medical staff on the way. It was very late at night, and the nurse was video chatting with her mom when she got into the car. She was so tired and fell asleep while chatting. Her mom worried about waking her up, so she just kept watching her daughter in silence the entire way home. When she arrived, Willis woke up the nurse and told her that her mom was still waiting on the line. And the young nurse, although it couldn’t be seen through her facemask, was promptly in tears.