Alec Spicer
The Dallas Native Talks Daily Life In The Origin Of The COVID-19 Pandemic, The United States’ Politicizing Of The Virus And More.
On Thursday night, spoke to Warren Lee, a Dallas native who has been living in Wuhan — ground zero for the novel coronavirus — since the pandemic first broke out in January.
When Lee traveled to Wuhan to visit his girlfriend and celebrate the Chinese New Year, he planned to be there for a few weeks — he is still there six months later. His reasons for staying might surprise you, though. He says he feels safer staying in Wuhan than he would traveling back to the U.S., as China has leveled off its case counts while we struggle with outbreaks across the country.
Lee credits much of his comfort in Wuhan to China’s comparatively aggressive pandemic response through tools like mandatory testing, contact tracing (they use QR codes to track use of things like public transportation) and ardent use of masks. He also says one of the most puzzling things about watching things play out back home is that there is even a debate about wearing masks at all. I’d have to agree.
Below, we discuss what took the esports event planner to Wuhan in the first place, what life has been like for him since then and what he’s learned about how the Chinese government has been able to corral its outbreaks.