Always late to the party, but I have a cousin who lives and teaches in Chengdu, China (It's like a 15 hour drive from Wuhan). I thought I'd share his facebook post from January 31st in case anyone was interested:
First imagine this: your daily life in China. You wake up, roll over to your phone and immediately check WeChat, Facebook, and Instagram. You quickly check the headlines from the BBC, South China Morning Post, and the New York Times. You send a quick message to your mom and sister on iMessage. Within 2 minutes you’re in the shower, and within 45 minutes you’ve ordered a Didi (Chinese Uber) and you’re on your way to work. You work all day, come home, visit some friends, go to sleep, and do it all again.
To you this is civilization. That was two weeks ago.
Now imagine this: Your job closes for the holidays and then extends your holiday because of a new illness that is spreading from a neighbouring province. Cities begin being quarantined. Planes, trains, and automobiles cannot leave the quarantined cities.
You are told to wear a mask. They are running out of masks. You see a video of people collecting dirty masks from garbage cans and repurposing them to be sold as new.
You’re told don’t travel unless completely necessary. Do not leave your house. Anyone might have it, your pet may be carrying it. Is it safe to go to the supermarket?
Bars, restaurants, and public areas close and the streets are nearly empty. Now you are told there are medical checkpoints at every entrance to a highway. In full medical gear, health workers have you exit your vehicle and you are given a medical check before you enter the city.
Countries begin cutting off people from where you are to enter their countries and territories. There is talk in the White House of banning all flights from your country of origin.
Your wife is with you and her passport is expired. She is also 3 months pregnant. You couldn’t get on that last plane even if you wanted to. You guys are stuck.
There is a moral argument to be made for staying put. Imagine that you hop on a plane and are the one who spreads the disease and are responsible for the death of just one person. But what about your family?"