The Twenty-second Day: 13 April 2020

The Twenty-second Day: 13 April 2020 (88,621 confirmed infected, 11,329 died, in total)

"In London, nearly half (46.6%) of deaths registered in the same week involved COVID-19." – The Office for National Statistics

Easter Monday. The world out-of-home is still dangerous. We did not go out for the whole day. Dan was addicted to the Uncharted Waters game and learned plenty of geography and history knowledge from the game and the “Big History” book I gave him. Sonne and I were idle without being “harassed” by the boy, so we sat in the sofa and slid into our memory.

Seventeen years ago, when Sonne and I were still having our campus life, the SARS virus stroke China. That was exactly another type of coronavirus and was more fatal than the current one. A young nurse of the hospital I visited most died of that virus very soon after contracting it. It was so fierce but fortunately it seemed not as contagious as the current one.

Our university was put under lock-down for weeks at that time as a precaution. All lectures were suspended. Network video streaming technology was not available at that time, so students were just “let drift” and simply did not have any class or other activity to attend. Sonne and I got to know each other during that period. No cinemas, no shopping, no candle-light dinners, our first dates were confined within the locked-down campus. We stepped on every inch of the university and chatted and shared our stories. We owned our very unique romance, and got married some years after we graduated.

I have never thought that I would one day, once again, staying at home under a lock-down with her, and with our son as well. For years I haven’t got a chance to stay with Sonne and Dan for such a long time due to my work appointments. There is an ancient allusive story and idiom in China called “losing a horse is not necessarily a misfortune for the man living in borderland”, which gives the idea of “a misfortune might be a blessing in disguise”.

Indeed, “blessed” by the virus, I am now enjoying every second of this precious time with my family.

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