I realised that I haven’t had time to just sit and reflect about my whole experience in the COVID crisis. A bit about myself – I am originally from Hong Kong, but I have been living in London for more than 6 years, having just completed a medical degree there. This period of time has made me really appreciate all the little things in life.

Back in February, when I first heard about coronavirus in China and in Hong Kong, I was extremely worried about my family. I learned about the shortages of essentials in supermarket and wanted to send some surgical masks from United Kingdom back to Hong Kong. I hadn’t even thought about coronavirus impacting on my life in the UK. I natively thought that I will be okay and everything in the West will be fine. I was also very bogged down on revising on my finals and looking forward my post-exam plans. I was supposed to go to China for my electives, a medical placement abroad, in May/June. Unfortunately, that was cancelled very early on. It was a bummer. I was frantically trying to organise alternatives or else I wouldn’t get to travel with my friends at all. I was annoyed at the situation. But looking back now, it was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

The atmosphere started to change in the United Kingdom in late Feb/ early March when we started having cases imported from abroad. Working with healthcare professionals, we seemed to be much more aware about the severity of the condition. However, my other non-medic friends seemed a lot nonchalant about the whole situation – “It is just a flu that affects old people.” No one seemed to be prepared for a pandemic.

My parents started to advise me to wear masks and use hand sanitisers, but no one was taking these precautionary measures at all. I was very conflicted. I knew how scary it can be. I wanted to protect myself. But at the same time, I was questioning myself whether this is too drastic? Am I being over the top?

In mid-March, I had my finals. Everyday there were new updates. No one knew what was going on. It was chaotic. People were understandably stressed. The university closed down, but what did that mean to me? Do I still have exams? Do I get to travel? Do I get to graduate? Do I get to become a doctor? I realised that I was thinking about myself the whole time. Is that human nature?

Exams were continued with a lot of modifications. Everything else was cancelled. We also heard that other medical schools have cancelled No one celebrated when we have completed our exams. None of us envisioned our 6 years of medical school to end like this. The day after, the medical school sent us an email asking us to volunteer at various hospitals. This was also when my parents thought it would be safer to come back to Hong Kong. My brother, who is studying in Chicago, was also flying back to Hong Kong for 6 months since university has been moved online for the rest of the term.

I said bye to all my friends briefly and flew home 2 days after on March 19th, just 3 days before the UK government imposed a lockdown. I came back to Hong Kong and I started my 14 days quarantine in a hotel. I had a tracking device with me and was not allowed to have or to leave the room. It was terrible for my mental health. Having no routine or goals, I was sleeping for more than 14 hours a day. I should have treasured that time to further myself, but I just couldn’t. I had no energy and no motivation. That 14 days felt like eternity.

In quarantine, I also learned that my flatmate back in the UK started showing symptoms of coronavirus. She is a doctor in London and didn’t have enough protective equipment when she was seeing patients. She started having a fever with a sore throat. She also started losing her sense of smell and taste. That’s when it really hit home for me. I called my friends who were still in London to drop off essential items for her and I checked up on her every day. She was told to go back to work after 7 days as long as she didn’t have a fever. She couldn’t get tested to see if she was still infectious or whether she indeed had coronavirus. I no longer kept track of the stats, because I know it is not accurate. I was angry and frustrated. I also felt very helpless. I was scared for her. I was scared for the country. I was scared for the world.

Post quarantine, I am ashamed to say that I am living a normal life. This is because Hong Kong people were collaborative and comprehensive in preventing the coronavirus spread. When I first landed, I thought it was a bit extreme that all restaurants had to measure customer’s temperature, and everyone had to wear a mask. In hindsight, these strict measures had proven effective and allowed people to enjoy the freedom of being out and about. I am very grateful and blessed. I realised I have taken a lot of things for granted. There are also a lot of things that I do not need in my life. The coronavirus pandemic also brought my family back together for an extended period of time. Yesterday, I had my graduation on Zoom – a completely new experience for the faculty, the graduates and the families. Today is very sunny day and I pray for people all over the world. I don’t know what tomorrow will be like, but I have faith that together we will get through this because we need to keep our heads up high.

But this coronavirus pandemic is breaking countries apart and will have a long-lasting effect on the world. No one will forget the year of 2020, the year of corona, the year where everything stopped and everyone grieved.

[submitted on 4/25/2020]