Chapter 18
City S is one of the three cities that were sealed off and is a severely affected area by the outbreak of the new virus. Before the official announcement, the hospital was already full of patients with cold symptoms, but it was not known that they were patients with the new virus.
Doctors and nurses had no protection when they were busy seeing patients, and at most they wore a medical mask. Now the official announcement has made all medical staff feel helpless.
There is no authoritative statistics for all the data yet, but the intensive care units in hospitals are overflowing.
A rough estimate suggests that in this largest hospital in City W, the mortality rate is a staggering 40%, and the infection rate without masks is 100%. There is no specific medicine, no so-called most effective treatment.
What hospitals can do is to use medication to boost patients' immunity and self-healing during mild symptoms, preventing them from falling into the abyss of severe illness. Once the disease becomes severe, patients lose consciousness completely, their organs fail, and they can only be transferred to the ICU ward for medical support, leaving them at the mercy of fate.
Hospitals were already overwhelmed, with patients who couldn't be treated dying and new patients constantly being admitted. After the novel virus became public, panic spread, and waves of gloom and doom surged.
But they cannot retreat. If the manpower is reduced further, the medical system will collapse and more people will lose hope.
Some patients with chronic diseases need to come to the hospital for dialysis, while others need to get prescription medication and insulin injections...
This group of people cannot live without hospitals, but going to the hospital now is a huge risk. They have underlying diseases and lower immunity than normal people, which means they are more likely to be infected with the new virus. In the absence of effective drugs and vaccines, the chances of severe illness and death increase.
This situation is not limited to one hospital in City S. In the three cities that have been closed due to the outbreak, there is blood, tears and perseverance everywhere.
It was July, and the temperature was high as summer began. The highest temperature in the three blocked coastal cities reached over 30 degrees.
Urban dwellers don't tend to stockpile groceries. When the weather gets hot, they often eat out or order takeout for convenience. To prevent insects from infesting food, they keep at most two bags of rice at home, and buy and eat fruits and vegetables immediately.
The sudden outbreak of the new virus disrupted everyone's plans. People went out to buy in the scorching sun and sweated. The medical masks and alcohol mentioned in the news were sold out. These two goods, which were unsaleable in the past, were hyped up to an incredible price by interested parties due to the current situation of too many people and too little supply.
The government immediately issued an announcement on macro-control measures, requiring that prices of materials remain unchanged, declaring that job posts and routes remain unchanged, requiring residents to wear masks, wash hands frequently, and ventilate the air frequently. If they have a fever, they should self-isolate in time and call a special line to wait for treatment.
However, all measures require a period of adaptation and promotion before they can be effective. The temperature in the cities that have not been closed has dropped slightly, but the fire in the three sealed cities is still burning vigorously for the time being.
Residents of three coastal cities were stunned when they received the news of the lockdown. How could a first-tier city in China be forced to close down? What virus had forced the country to take such drastic action at the expense of the economy?
It was fine when I didn't pay attention to it, but when the city was closed, all the information that I had not noticed before was pushed to my eyes through big data search.
The new virus has an unprecedentedly high infectiousness and mortality rate. There is no specific treatment method, and hospital beds are severely insufficient. Many people who want to receive treatment are left with nowhere to go.
People rushed out to buy masks. Those who had masks at home pulled them out from the bottom of the box, regardless of whether they were expired or not. Having masks was already a great thing, and any protection was good. Those who didn't have masks rushed to pharmacies and supermarkets to buy them, but long queues had already formed.
Lin Xiaoyu from City S is a sophomore studying at a university in this city. During the holidays, he is home and is being a happy and lazy stay-at-home.
Before the virus was announced, she had heard a little about it because she had been surfing the Internet for many years and crossing the wall.
A fellow fan is a fangirl from Country H. They usually communicate through a translator and only discuss their idols, and they get along well. A few days ago, this friend suddenly told her in the middle of the night that hospitals in her country are collapsing, many people are sick, and there's no place to get treatment. She's planning to return home and stop chasing fans for now. She'll refund the money she paid for the album she asked her to buy.
Lin Xiaoyu's sleepiness caused by jet lag suddenly disappeared. She used the translator to ask what was going on. The other party did not reply, but her bank card received a transfer message.
There was no news on domestic social platforms, so I was puzzled and tried to climb over the firewall to access foreign social networking sites. After browsing for a long time, I only saw some vague messages. The translation by the translator was even worse, like an enhanced version of Shuangzi's mumbling.
However, we can still barely make out what is happening. Different languages and different expressions all refer to the same thing - virus.
Lin Xiaoyu has no connection with her family or the medical system. Her parents are both employees of a decoration company. She feels that the action of blocking the other party is very embarrassing, but there is no way to verify it.
Originally thinking of falling asleep knowing there would be someone tall to hold up the sky if it fell, Lin Xiaoyu with dark circles under her eyes couldn't help but click on an e-commerce platform. Well, masks and alcohol are not expensive. You can buy a hundred masks and a big bottle of alcohol for more than ten yuan. Place the order and sleep peacefully!
When her parents received the goods, they were a little surprised why she bought these. However, Lin Xiaoyu's family atmosphere has always been very harmonious. She briefly talked about her friend in Country H, and her parents said that it was up to her to decide what to buy, and that the family was not short of that little money.
So when her parents went out to work during the day, she moved two boxes of hand-torn bread into the house like ants moving house. When it was hot, she stocked up a box of 24 bottles of Coke at home and filled the small freezer at home with some meat and frozen foods.
On the day the virus was announced and the city lockdown notice was issued, Lin Xiaoyu let out a deep breath. Oh my God, this was actually happening, and in the city where she had lived for twenty years.
When her parents rolled up their sleeves and wanted to go out to grab supplies, Lin Xiaoyu quickly grabbed them and showed them the results of her labor over the past few days.
Her father, pleased, declared his daughter clever and foresighted. Her mother's phone was flooded with videos from her square dance friends of people scrambling for food and masks, along with photos of items with inflated prices, like a cabbage costing 20 yuan, and she couldn't stop praising them.
After discussing it, the family decided not to go out and stay at home. There was food and drink at home, which would last for a month.
If you get infected with the virus while out and about, with current treatment options, it's more dangerous and more likely to lead to death. Trust the government's announcements, avoid going out, ventilate the area more, and disinfect. Help will surely arrive.
The mother also thought of appealing to her family and friends, but was persuaded by Lin Xiaoyu. They said that they could stay at home because they had prepared some supplies in advance. At this time, other families might only have enough food for a few days. What else could they do if they were not allowed to go out to buy food?
There are many such families in the three closed cities, but most of them go out to purchase necessities. Those with children also need to buy milk powder and diapers.
It is easy to get infected if you go out, and you have nothing to eat or drink and no disinfection or prevention supplies if you stay at home. In the first two days of the nationwide shutdown, the sales of various stores have skyrocketed, but this surge in the amount reveals people's anxiety and restlessness.
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