“Life under a pandemic” is a series of Q+A’s with people who are living in China and have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak. For our second interview we talked to Vincent Wen, a Wuhan native living in Shanghai.

Where were you when the quarantine began? 

I went back home in Wuhan on January 18 for Chinese New Year and the quarantine began on Jan 23. When I heard that Wuhan was going to be locked down in less than 10 hours, I immediately bought the earliest flight back to Shanghai.

So I was already at home in Shanghai. And then I had to quarantine myself at home for 14 days just to make sure I didn’t have it. I never stepped out of my home once.

What has your day-to-day looked like since quarantine?

During the first 14 days I came back to Shanghai, I ordered food and daily supplies online and had them delivered at my door so I didn’t have to go out. The government sent a doctor to make sure I was not sick and I was asked to report my body temperature  to the doctor three times a day during that time. After 14 days, the doctor tested me again and I was healthy so my quarantine ended. Now everything is back to normal but still I won’t go out too much, maybe two times a week.

My day-to-day life is simple. I work from home like I always do. The only difference is that now I have to cook everyday because all the restaurants are closed. Once or twice a week I’ll go somewhere far from downtown where there’s not many people so I can take off the mask and get some fresh air.

What things have you seen/heard that have surprised you?

The way that both news and fake news have been spreading so fast. We have a population of 1.4 billion people in China and not everyone has been able to remain calm. For a while, people from other cities have been blaming people from Wuhan because they think we caused the virus outbreak. Bad wishes against us are all over the internet and I guess it’s natural, but it still surprised me a lot. No one wants to catch the virus, no one wants to die. Now over 40,000 people in Wuhan who have been infected are living in pain everyday and people are blaming them? That’s crazy. It’s hard to believe that some Chinese people are attacking other Chinese people even during a time like this when we should all stick together and fight the virus.

What do you wish people outside of China understood about what is happening there?

Not every Chinese person is infected. In terms of the Chinese people living outside China now, please don’t treat them like they’re the virus. Show some love.

I have friends working or studying in the US and some of them are even US citizens now. They’ve all been far away from home for a long time, so it’s already a hard time for them living overseas. We’re all human, this is not about who you are where you from what color your skin is. It’s all about fighting the virus.

Are there any other things you would like the world to know?

I just wanna say thank everyone who cares about the situation now in Wuhan. Some people overseas have sent medical supplies to Wuhan and we won’t forget about your help.

After all this is over, we welcome you to visit Wuhan. It’s a really beautiful city.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity