A Moran woman, who will be returning to China next week for her job as a teacher, said she isn’t worried about a new virus that has restricted travel to and from the country.
Molly McEwan teaches English and art in Cixi, a suburb of Ningbo, China, in the north Zhejiang province in eastern China. The population is about 1.5 million, but in China, that’s considered a relatively small village.
“It’s very quiet and cozy with no tall buildings,” Molly said.
Even so, its population density is a stark contrast to Allen County’s total population of 12,444.
The numbers of those affected by the coronavirus continue to rise. The latest estimates are that 20,500 people have become infected and the death toll is 425, with nearly all fatalities confined to China.
While that seems like a lot of people, it’s a tiny fraction of China’s 1.386 billion population, McEwan said. She is concerned recent media attention is overlooking key details about the illness, though she agrees it is good to be cautious.
Those who have died from the virus tend to have underlying factors such as old age or other health issues. And the U.S.’s Centers for Disease and Control estimates that so far this season there have been at least 19 million influenza illnesses, in general, with 180,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 resultant deaths.
“All that said, this new disease is very concerning and shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially because all of this happened with unfortunate timing: right before the Chinese New Year celebrations,” McEwan said. “Almost all of China travels outside the country or to their hometowns during this holiday, and that was a huge contribution to its fast spreading.”
McEwan was among those who left the country during the holiday season. She and her boyfriend, Tyson Carpenter from Dodge City, are currently visiting the Philippines. They’re keeping in close contact with friends and fellow teachers in China. They’ve heard Chinese citizens are being turned away from customs and unable to enter other countries when traveling. Many flights to and from China have been canceled.
“When we arrived at customs and immigration in Manila, we had to walk through a body heat scanner, which was checking everyone’s temperature,” she said.
Molly and Tyson expect to return to China Sunday.
She’s not worried about encountering travel restrictions through the rest of their trip or upon their return to China. So far, they haven’t faced any problems.
“But I am concerned about being in four airports and possibly a train station to get back home. That’s a lot of people to come into contact with,” she said.
Her friends in China report the city “is like a ghost town.”
“A lot of stores are closed. Public transportation is either shut down completely or running but deserted,” she said. “They also say that the government is closely monitoring Chinese communications apps in attempts to track down the source of rumors emerging.”
