The total number of confirmed cases today is 81,032, with 29 new cases and only 4 new cases in Wuhan. When I add up the data from other regions, there are only 15 cases, which means the total number is 19. It seems that the number of statistics does not add up to the total. In short, the domestic epidemic is under control.
Now our epidemic prevention work has shifted to go all out to accept people returning from overseas. The surge in the number of returnees has put huge pressure on the prevention and control work. Judging from the unofficially forwarded videos and texts, the Capital Airport is already overcrowded with people returning from China. The provincial offices in Beijing have working groups at the New China Exhibition Center to "pick you up wherever you are", implement unified isolation, and implement 24-hour diversion and transfer work to reduce the risk of spread.
The total number of confirmed cases overseas has reached 65,380, an increase of more than 7,000 compared with yesterday. The data of each country can be read from the table above, so I won’t go into details. Given that some countries such as the United States have not yet carried out comprehensive testing, the actual number of infections should be far greater than the current number. Trump has declared a state of emergency in the United States and allocated US$50 billion to combat the epidemic. He will begin to provide free virus testing to all people through the most convenient means. Zhong Nanshan said that the current case fatality rate of COVID-19 in the United States is nearly 3%. Such a high rate must mean that many patients have not yet been discovered.
But not everyone is in danger. A large number of Westerners still view the epidemic with a relatively relaxed attitude. The UK seems to be continuing to implement the "herd immunity" strategy, simply allowing everyone to develop antibodies after getting sick. Because there is currently no specific medicine for COVID-19, the only way to be safe is to generate antibodies or get vaccinated. A vaccine will take about a year at the earliest to be produced. After the suspension of classes in American universities, a large number of college students flocked to the beach to have fun; while the French took their children attending classes for a pleasant walk in the square. Italy's joyful national character was fully exposed. The mayor of Rome directly tweeted, calling on everyone to open their windows at 7 p.m., play drums, sing and hold a concert together. So, the normally laid-back Italians actually opened their windows and sang loudly together, which reminded me of the citizens of Wuhan singing on their balconies.
Everyone has a different version of what happened. Professor Xiao Yonghong, a doctoral supervisor at Zhejiang University, published an article in "The Lancet" and made five main points: "Spraying disinfectants on roads, vehicles, and people is harmful and useless; there is no evidence to support that ordinary citizens wearing surgical masks can effectively prevent diseases; blocking roads and closing villages is of little value; the risk of infection in short-term social contact between people is exaggerated; and the abuse of antibiotics, antiviral drugs, hormones, and traditional Chinese medicine is not good." Because of these views, Professor Xiao received pressure from relevant parties, saying that this article was contrary to the national epidemic prevention and control, and asked him to eliminate the impact of public opinion caused by his remarks. I personally think it is good for Professor Xiao to reflect on epidemic prevention, and these experiences will also help other countries, but the timing was wrong. If you do something at the wrong time, it will be difficult to do the right thing even if it is the right thing.
Another person who is hotly discussed today is Xinhua News Agency reporter Liao Jun. Liao Jun was commended as a heroine on the front line of epidemic prevention and control and a hero in the fight against the epidemic. However, many netizens and fellow journalists went through her past reports and found that she had written the press releases that said "the virus does not spread from person to person", "most shops in the South China Seafood Market are open normally", "doctor LWL spread rumors", and "the epidemic in Wuhan is preventable and controllable". In the later period, she did stay on the front line. She claimed to have written more than 200 reports and more than 90 internal reference articles, and was a prolific reporter. She might actually be doing her best. But as netizens said, it’s not about the number of manuscripts, but about the quality and what kind of thinking and reflection it triggers in society. Even if you have a mission, there are always opportunities to conduct in-depth interviews and face social issues head-on. Another reporter said: "If you don't have real concern for people, you can't be a reporter; if you stay focused on caring about people instead of solving problems, you won't be a good reporter." If a reporter doesn't have his own brain and humanity, no matter how many articles he writes, he is just a mouthpiece.
Today is Saturday, so I feel a little more relaxed because I don’t have to deal with daily work matters. On the evening of the 17th, I will teach a course related to family education "Good Habits for Children to Develop Before the Age of 10", so I searched out a lot of books on education to prepare for the lesson. I read them while preparing the lesson. I feel that there are many books worth reading by parents. I will recommend a few here.
The first is "The Gardener and the Carpenter" by American writer Alison Gopnik, which talks about how to improve the parent-child relationship from the perspective of developmental psychology; the second is "Spencer's Happy Education" by British educator Herbert Spencer, which tells why happy education is the most effective way of educating children; and the third is "How New Families Shape People" by American writer Virginia Satir, which tells how to solve family problems, how to heal problematic families, and how to provide children with a healthy growth environment.
The first three books are a bit theoretical, and the following three books are related to parents' practice and accompanying their children's growth. The first book is "Mom Always Has a Solution" by my friend Zhang Dandan, which carefully tells how she accompanied her two children to grow up healthily; the second book is "Daily Life with Daughter" (volume two) by Chen Yuanfeng, which records the story of the couple growing up with their daughter in the form of comics; the third book is "Being a Good Mother Is Actually Easy" by Huang Wei, which uses a large number of cases to describe the qualities required to be a good mother. I also wrote the preface to this book myself. Okay, for books about family education, I will first recommend these six books. There are so many recommendations that everyone must be overwhelmed. On the evening of the 17th, if you have time, go and listen to my lecture. After all, I have been the father of two children, so some exchanges can be considered based on experience.
Today I spent half a day reading "The Green Comb - My Youth", written by Li Changhui, a centenarian. The touching degree of this book is comparable to Qi Bangyuan's "The Great River". The difference is that Qi Bangyuan is an academic celebrity, while Li Changhui is an ordinary member of the Republic. The book was written by her when she was 92 years old. It reviews her life experience from her birth in 1920 to the liberation in 1949.
She had experienced the vicissitudes of life since she was a child, but she was sensitive and studious. She studied by herself under the influence of her parents and went directly to junior high school. At the age of 16, she left home alone to go to Wuhan to take the high school entrance examination. Due to financial problems, she attended a midwifery school. During the Anti-Japanese War, she studied high school courses by herself for 8 months. She was admitted to the best medical school at the time, the National Chung Cheng Medical College (one of the predecessors of the Third Military Medical University), and became an excellent doctor. From an unpopular young lady from a scholarly family to an independent woman who has worked hard to achieve academic success, she has also gained a happy and fulfilling love. The story along the way is poignant and heart-warming, and its emotional depth exceeds "Be Like a Bird Flying to Your Mountain" by American writer Tara. This book also tells the story of the growth of an American woman.
After liberation, Li Changhui and his lover Jin Chuanbing have been working in Tangshan, becoming the director of the hospital and have been advanced workers. They experienced the persecution of the Cultural Revolution and the Tangshan earthquake. The second daughter died in the earthquake. It is rare that she still has such a clear mind at the age of 92, and clearly recorded the first half of her life word by word. It's a pity that she didn't write down what happened after liberation. I think it's hard to tell. I have always believed that history recorded by ordinary people is the real history. The history of China, all of the Twenty-Four Histories, records the history of emperors and generals, distorting many realities of history. Personal biographies like Li Changhui can express the life scenes and feelings of ordinary people, allowing us to glimpse the real people and humanistic stories behind the grand history.
It is still a sunny day in Beijing today, with bright sunshine and blue sky and white clouds. All the plants are facing the sun, swaying and dancing in the wind, and the buds of flowers and green buds of leaves are growing little by little. That kind of shy beauty makes people's hearts flutter. Today I walked 13,000 steps in the sunshine, embracing this lonely spring with a fast and comfortable walking method.
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Machine-translated from the Chinese original 老俞疫情日记丨疫情当下，并非每个人都如临大敌（3月14日） (published 2020-03-14). WeChat original ↗