Chronicles of Fighting Against the Epidemic 2020：Spring Breeze and Wildfire

By Yi Bai, Jointing.Media, in Shenzhen, 2020.04.30

“Time flies! It’s been three months already,” recalling the medical supply donation action that he participated in during the early days of the lockdown in Wuhan, Xiaoye couldn’t help but sigh at the ruthlessness of time. “To be honest, I don’t even remember what I was doing on Chinese New Year’s Eve anymore, because it was non-stop work around the clock during that time.”

“The most needed items during the Spring Festival were (protective) medical supplies, followed by logistics resources, and donations were actually the most abundant. I noticed this problem as soon as I joined the group. So, I first searched for intercity and international logistics resources through various channels to help alumni who had found sources of goods solve their logistics problems. After all, alumni have a certain level of trust and are easy to do background checks on, which is better than strangers met online,” Xiaoye said. He has 20 years of work experience and always likes to summarize his work habits. The group he mentioned refers to a WeChat group organized by a group of alumni to assist Wuhan hospitals. Xiaoye is one of the donors.

He said, ”The logistics experts who were finally confirmed were recommended by friends who knew and trusted them. I don’t trust resources recommended by people I don’t know or haven’t dealt with. It’s not just about being enthusiastic, it’s harder to spend money than to make money. To spend money well and get things done, you have to carefully choose your partners, and that’s always the case.”

If it were you, you would do the same

Actually, Xiaoye’s sense of crisis was not initially so strong. At first, he saw the same information online as most people. As more and more requests for help from hospitals and doctors were transmitted in the WeChat group, he began to donate money. “At first, it was just a donation following the crowd. I have been doing public welfare work in my spare time for more than ten years, and donating and participating in volunteer work is just a habit. The money I donated was not much, just a gesture. I wanted to do something within my ability. At that time, although the news said that experts had confirmed that the new coronavirus was definitely “human-to-human” transmission, I did not realize that the situation was much more serious than I had imagined.”

During the Spring Festival, workers returned home and factories stopped production, leading to a shortage of medical consumables. People in the WeChat group often asked for help, from donating sources of goods, transportation, finding doctors to assist in confirming product standards, and finally receiving them. Xiaoye actively and enthusiastically helped to find resources and connect information from all parties. Slowly, the scope of his work became deeper and wider. He said that buying goods was like going to war. Once the source of goods was confirmed, he had to immediately find reliable friends who could go to the site to inspect and pick up the goods, coordinate tense transportation resources, prepare funds, contact the receiving hospitals, and confirm the allocation quantity of each hospital from start to finish. For one order, he sat in front of his computer in his study for 12 hours to coordinate and plan, only drinking a sip of water and taking a bite of food. “Fortunately, my little buddies were very powerful, and we worked together to get things done.” Xiaoye seemed to be back in that situation, sighing heavily.

“If I hadn’t called the frontline nurses in the hospital to confirm the situation of receiving supplies, I wouldn’t have felt so deeply and angrily about what happened in Wuhan thousands of miles away. I remember it was evening, and there was no one on the large lawn outside the study window. I put down the phone and cried alone in the room with grief and anger.” Xiaoye then called the contact number on the official website of the Red Cross Society of Hubei Province to question the distribution of medical donation supplies. However, at that time, the website of the Red Cross Society of the province only published the total amount of donations received and the total value of supplies, without details of the supplies and distribution information.”

“I sternly questioned them about what supplies they had received, whether they had distributed masks and protective clothing to hospitals, and whether they knew that hospitals no longer had these supplies. The staff who answered the phone didn’t know anything, and their bureaucratic habits made me furious. Looking back now, the reason for my anger is also difficult to describe in words. Two sentences come to mind: ‘When the city gate is on fire, the fish in the moat are affected,’ and ‘When the rich feast in their mansions, the frozen bones of the poor lie on the road.’ Later, some people analyzed that it was a problem with the ability of government-run charity organizations, which may have some truth. But in that situation, I think it was caused by bureaucratic inertia. I have always supported accountability. But accountability is not the ultimate goal, it is to promote reflection through accountability, and to find and solve the root causes of problems. Now everyone talks about ‘normalizing epidemic prevention.’ I understand that ‘normalizing’ means learning from painful lessons and changing the way we work, communicate information, and provide feedback.”

JM curiously asked Xiaoye: “What did the nurse who answered the phone tell you?”

“Actually, she just told me in a very ordinary tone, ‘The hospital director doesn’t allow us to wear donated protective clothing, saying it doesn’t meet the hospital’s standards. Tomorrow, we may not even be allowed to bring masks.’ I was very surprised at the time and asked how they planned to protect themselves without masks. She still spoke in a calm tone and said, ‘I don’t know, several people in the neighboring department have already fallen ill.’”

“How did these words make you burst into tears?”

“This is like sending soldiers to the battlefield without giving them guns and bullets. You are urgently preparing supplies in the rear, striving to send them to the front line as soon as possible, but when you get there, you find that the front-line leaders do not allow their use. If you were in his shoes, you would feel the same sadness and indignation upon hearing such a thing.”

“What impact did this have on you?”

“My perspective on observing events has changed. At that time, I realized that most hospital managers were not on the front line of the fight against the epidemic, so they could ignore the situation of front-line medical staff and forget basic common sense, only following the original administrative management regulations and rules, and few had the ability to handle crisis events or take responsibility. Once people become machines of the system, they lose the ability to think. In this context, I was somewhat pessimistic about controlling the epidemic at that time, and when I thought about the subsequent impact on the economy, my sense of crisis became even deeper. Therefore, I am more actively involved in donating to public welfare actions on the front line of hospitals.”

“Do you have a sense of mission?”

“Not really. It’s just a sense of crisis – ‘there are no eggs under a toppled nest’.”

“Do your friends around you have the same thoughts and actions as you?”

“Not all of them. Some friends are very active like me, while others are indifferent. I asked a friend who went abroad for the New Year to find a local source of masks, but he told me not to cause trouble for the government and said, ‘China is so powerful, why do you need to donate any supplies?’ ” Xiao Ye replied with a smile.

We are just helping ourselves

It is important to note that medical supplies have strict standards. In order to prevent medical accidents, hospitals have their own procurement standards, strict inventory and distribution processes. Although individuals, legal persons or organizations within the country can all be recipients of donated epidemic prevention materials from overseas, there are two special regulations for donations to Wuhan, Hubei Province:

According to the announcement “Notice on Mobilizing Charitable Forces to Participate in the Prevention and Control of the New Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic in an Orderly Manner” issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on January 26, 2020, the materials collected by charitable organizations for epidemic prevention and control in Wuhan, Hubei Province can currently only be received by the Red Cross Society of Hubei Province, Hubei Charity Federation, Hubei Youth Development Foundation, Wuhan Charity Federation, and Wuhan Red Cross Society.

According to the content of the “Announcement to the Public by the Wuhan Red Cross Society (No. 6)” issued on January 30, 2020, if the donated materials to the Wuhan Red Cross Society are intended to be donated to a specific medical institution, the donor can directly send the donated materials to the recipient unit after confirming with the medical institution, and complete the donation procedures at the Wuhan Red Cross Society later with the proof of donation to the designated recipient unit.

Among all the recipients mentioned above, only the recipient with official background can enjoy the tax exemption policy for imported materials in accordance with the law. In addition, the Emergency Support Group of the Wuhan New Pneumonia Prevention and Control Command issued the “Announcement on Matters Related to the Purchase or Donation of Epidemic Prevention and Medical Consumables” on January 30, 2020, which detailed the standards and matters related to donated materials. Among them, there are the following regulations for products from overseas medical device manufacturers:

Those who have obtained the qualification of registration certificate for imported medical equipment products within the country can purchase or donate;
Those who have not obtained the registration certificate for imported medical equipment products within the country, but meet any of the “foreign standards” in the attachment and can provide the foreign medical device listing certificate and inspection report for the relevant products can purchase or donate, and the products can be directly sent to medical institutions for use after arrival;
Those who have not obtained the registration certificate for imported medical equipment products within the country, but meet any of the “foreign standards” in the attachment, but cannot provide the foreign medical device listing certificate and inspection report, will be inspected by the emergency support team of the Wuhan New Pneumonia Prevention and Control Command at the site of the goods upon arrival, and if necessary, samples will be sent to inspection agencies for inspection of key indicators. Those that meet the requirements will be sent to medical institutions for use.

For materials that do not meet the above conditions, whether they are purchased or donated, they cannot be used as medical supplies. If there is a special need, the Wuhan City Market Supervision and Administration Bureau will send the product to a qualified inspection agency for inspection in accordance with the “domestic standards” in the attachment before it can be used.

Subsequent facts have shown that even with the tireless efforts of government officials and many local volunteers joining the front line work, there was still a significant shortage of manpower during that special period in Hubei and Wuhan, and the backlog of a huge amount of materials could lead to corruption loopholes. The emergency situation made it very difficult to implement policies effectively. The weighing of priorities and how to make trade-offs tested the wisdom of the implementers and decision-makers.

Xiaoye’s personality is like a fire, and he is also very passionate when it comes to doing things. With the evolution of the situation in Wuhan, Xiaoye’s emotions have been like a roller coaster. For a whole month, Xiaoye has also encountered various people who participated in public welfare actions online.

“Some people always say that our public welfare actions are helping Wuhan and Hubei, but I think this time is different from supporting Wenchuan at that time. We are helping ourselves – helping Wuhan compatriots and supporting frontline medical staff is suppressing the spread of the virus and protecting ourselves.” Xiaoye said. “supporting Wenchuan” that he mentioned refers to grassroots public welfare organizations’ aid action after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Some public welfare figures have called 2008 the “first year of civil public welfare”.”

With the government taking over factories and the National Ministry of Industry and Information Technology coordinating production, the phased mission of civil public welfare has also been completed. “I think this is normal. Civil public welfare is just a supplement to government social governance. The main reason is that institutions such as the Red Cross Society of Hubei Province and Wuhan have weak capabilities and are too inactive,” Xiaoye openly criticized official charitable organizations.

Xiaoye also knew that the donations they made at the time were just a drop in the bucket. JM also saw many individuals and temporary public welfare groups with various backgrounds who took spontaneous actions like them. At the beginning of the anti-epidemic period, they were the first to react and quickly donated urgently needed medical supplies to the front line of hospitals. Apart from JM, it seems that not many people paid attention to them, and there was no official or self-media to publicize and report on them.

Although there were many unsatisfactory aspects of the donation actions, many doctors were still very grateful for the warmth given by these anonymous individuals during the extraordinary period. Xiaoye still keeps many WeChat messages from Wuhan hospital staff in his mobile phone, although they only contain simple words of “thank you”. Although they have never met, recalling the days when they fought together, it feels like a spring breeze blowing over Xiaoye’s heart.

Xiaoye also criticized various phenomena in the anti-epidemic period, and recommended that I read a series of analytical articles written by economist Huasheng on this epidemic. Due to the length of this article, it is not convenient to list them one by one. A sixty-year-old acquaintance of Xiaoye said that he saw a trace of the May Fourth Youth’s passion in Xiaoye. Although it is only a trace, it is still precious. Although this trace of passion is not always easy to ignite in ordinary life, it is still a spark! JM also believes that there are many individuals like Xiaoye around us, and the trickle can gather into the sea, and the spring breeze and wildfire will also ignite.

(At the request of the interviewee, the names used in the article are pseudonyms.)