Waiting for end of COVID-19 in Wuxi

A "black swan" event is one that seemingly comes out of nowhere and has significant, sometimes life-changing consequences. In my lifetime, I have experienced my own share of black swans, from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the 2008 "Great Recession"－both of which had enormous consequences, including some that were not apparent until much later.

Having spent the last few years living in Wuxi, in East China's Jiangsu province, I can now add the recent novel coronavirus epidemic to the list, with it having transformed life in an amazingly short period of time.

I vaguely remember it entering my consciousness in December. Just another news story I quickly scanned without absorbing any of the detail, in some part of China I'd never visited. It wasn't going to impact me, surely. Christmas came and went, a new decade began and the virus remained another news story I ignored each morning.