Young people play vital role in city's recovery

"Wash your hands again and take your mask off," a doctor from Wuhan People's Hospital said as he escorted me out of the quarantine ward.

It was my first time in Wuhan with China Daily. I was filming a COVID-19 documentary with my colleague in the "red zone"－quarantine wards for infected patients in critical condition.

I was part of the second batch of reporters sent to get COVID-19 coverage in Wuhan from our China Daily social media team.

When we first arrived in Wuhan in early February, it wasn't easy for us to report from the red zone. Short of protective gear, there were unknown risks of direct contact with patients, and no one on our team knew how to handle the protective suits.

"I know there are many difficulties, but we have to get into the hot zone," my colleague Wang Xiaoying said at the end of our first production meeting.

To be honest, I was quite afraid of being infected, but we knew we could manage the risk if we filmed with proper protection.

That night, I watched a video from the World Health Organization teaching medics about personal protection while fighting the Ebola virus. After watching it 10 times, I felt ready to go.

Zhang Wei was a patient that needed support from ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, one of the most advanced life support machines used in COVID-19 treatments. He was featured in one of our documentaries about people from all walks of life fighting against the novel coronavirus. He recovered after being treated by Liaoning intensive care medics. We filmed the whole story from the day I saw him in a coma with ECMO to the day he could breathe by himself. Zhang was luckier than some, but his story exemplified China's efforts to save every life in the war against COVID-19.

Lu Rong, a young doctor working in the ICU in Wuhan People's Hospital, has become a good friend. She is a local doctor who faced a very high risk of infection during the early stages of outbreak.

Lu told me she was strong enough to face the high risk and long working hours. But one day while we were eating lunch, she cried when I said my mom was quite worried about me.

Fighting back tears, she told me her brother was building a hospital in Ezhou, a city near Wuhan, while she is on the front line of COVID-19. Her mother cannot sleep at night because both of them are doing high risk jobs. But she told me her mother was so proud of her children who were out here saving people's lives.

We filmed many young people helping the cause－doctors, volunteers and firefighters, all fighting the coronavirus in different ways to help the city recover. I am a millennial and a journalist, and I am so proud that our generation is trying our best to safeguard our nation.

All their hard work is paying off. Wuhan finished its 76-day lockdown on Wednesday.

Finally, I'd like to share one of our stories from my documentary to end this reporter's log. An infected family reunited and cooked lunch together after being separated for two months because they were treated in different hospitals. They told me that a lunch with family was the best food they had in their lifetime.

Coincidentally, that night doctor Lu posted on her social media moments: "Family is our harbor of heart. Family is the softest place."