Trapped in a house in the province of Hubei, China, Li Wang spent almost two months watching his dream of becoming a Canadian permanent resident appear to be slipping between his fingers.

For the economics researcher at the Atlantic Institute for Policy Research at the University of New Brunswick, what supposed to be a weeklong Lunar New Year trip to celebrate with his family in his hometown Wuhan turned into a prolonged nightmare.

The moment he was picked up by his father at Wuhan’s Tianhe airport in late January, the family immediately drove out of the city to isolate at a relative’s home in Hubei province as the city’s COVID-19 death count grew by thousands.

No celebrations. No seeing relatives. Just the same four walls every single day.

Wang watched his city of Wuhan from afar — on cellphone video taken by his family’s delivery person and WeChat — turn into an isolated ghost town. “The streets are empty, no one is walking around,” he says, recalling the images. “It’s completely changed.”

Now, after more than three months of being holed up, Wang, who has lived in Canada for more than five years, has come out of stasis, passed all health tests and restrictions in China, and has made his return to Fredericton to continue to isolate.

“We’re all healthy and well,” he says. “I’m happy to be back.”

The absence from Canada hasn’t derailed his journey to become a Canadian permanent resident, but the experience has changed his life forever. Finally in the place he calls home, he’s hoping that revisiting his story will send a message of hope — that things will improve if we continue physical distancing, and that normal life will commence once again.

It’s February in Hubei province and Wang and his family have already done more than two weeks in lockdown.

“I am not worried for my health at the moment, but I am worried as I cannot return Canada on time,” he writes in an email to the Star.

From his shuttered lifestyle, Wang continued to work for the research lab in Fredericton despite an 11-hour time difference. After exhausting all his work hours, he’ll watch online gaming streams, read news and practise cooking and learning new dishes.

A big part of his support system? His friends and family in Wuhan. “All people stay at home now, and (communicate) online. Almost all people I have (reached) online are panicked,” he says, but adds it’s a way to stay updated in hopes they can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

He notes that everyone is heeding the rules. “Everyone is afraid of going out,” and are only able to leave to receive a large haul of groceries. No random walking or strolling.

Back in his Canadian home in Fredericton, his research team is desperately anticipating his return.

“He has tremendous work ethic. We do miss his presence in the office,” co-worker at the lab Mara Mallory tells the Star, adding that Wang represents the type of skilled talent that has allowed their research to flourish. Ironically enough, it was his research into immigration and employment in the province that led to Wang’s own interest in pursuing permanent residence in Canada.

“Wang had been working on data around the province’s economic growth and its need for talent, when during the research, he realized that the initiatives that the government was pushing could allow him to fast-track his academic work visa to permanent residence,” she says.

The problem? He has to be in Canada to get that done.

Enclosed in the four walls of his room in Hubei, he’s still doing work with Mallory and his New Brunswick team despite the massive time-zone difference. He notes that these are the real-life consequences of the pandemic even for a healthy person: disarray and dreams put on pause.

However pleasing it can be to visit friend and family, “Canada is where I hold my job and future,” he says.

By March, things for Wang’s family are starting to look up. China is reporting fewer cases and deaths, and has shut down its pop-up hospital sites for COVID-19 patients.

“The epidemic will be over soon!” Wang writes to the Star via WeChat. “I heard Toronto got confirmed cases. U in Toronto?”

As China flattens the curve, mass outbreaks and casualty numbers skyrocketed in other parts of the world. In the first two weeks of March, Italy’s case total surpasses 24,000. In the U.S., the number sits at under 3,000 but will increase to more than 840,000 in a little over a month. Canada has 252 cases by March 15, on its way to exceeding 40,000 on April 21.

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On March 16, Wang gets the authorities’ green light to leave lockdown. He immediately sets on his quest to get back to Canada — but before he can leave China, he must have no contact with Hubei for two weeks. Wang heads for Shenzhen in the Guangdong province, where he isolates for 14 days. After that he spends April 2 to 8 undergoing health tests and only then gets his certificate to leave the country.

He regrets missing his hometown of Wuhan coming out of lockdown — which would happen on April 8 — but he has to strategically plan the best way to get out of China. By April 10, three weeks after being let out of his home, he makes it back to Fredericton where, as of April 23, he is still self-isolating.

“I am happy I am able to come back and continue my work. I am mostly happy that I maintained good health and well-being,” he says. Now that he’s settled and getting over jet lag, he is catching up with his family who have moved back into the city of Wuhan to continue their business.

“Restaurants are open with lots of precautions. All businesses (can) resume in China and in Wuhan too, except movie theatres, karaoke, and all entertainment and sport,” he says after receiving updates from family. He even saw his cousin, a doctor in Wuhan, entering a bubble-tea shop to purchase a drink for the first time in months.

Ironically, he left China’s lockdown only to be confronted with more COVID-19 cases in Canada — but says the rules here are much more relaxed.

“In Canada, people can still go out for walks,” he says, contrasting it with China’s shutdown, when “no one can go out of the door for any reason.”

Even beyond lockdown, it doesn’t mean it’s business as usual in China. The country is still carrying out “strict rules” and citizens are acting with extreme caution, Wang has learned from his family.

There’s a mandatory temperature check for anyone entering a businesses. “A person with higher than 37.3 body temperature will be quarantined on site, and will wait for medical staff to pick them up and bring them home or to a hospital,” Wang says.

On top of that, there’s a new mandatory AI facial-recognition software, used by officials at all businesses, that will carry information on your flying history and your whereabouts over the past 14 days. “Each person gets a QC code. You need the green code to go out and to go any places, like groceries, gas stations etc.”

The green code indicates that the person has no travel history and no contact with infected cases. Yellow means the person may have had contact with infected people — in a plane or a certain grocery store, for example — which will require the person to self-isolate. “Red — I don’t know, but it shows the person is dangerous to public,” Wang adds.

There are also still mandatory rules for wearing masks. “I found it’s not hard to keep healthy during the pandemic in China,” he says. “People really listen and even to this day are very cautious.”

As for his own aspirations, he’s back on track to apply for permanent residence, but he remembers how difficult that time of waiting, not knowing when he’d be able to return home, was.

“I was very worried about my future in Canada, but I tried to stay calm and patient,” Wang says.

Now, he’s much more connected with his colleagues — not in the same room, but in the same province and in the same time zone, and has the ability to “access Google and databases” to continue his work. “I am productive now as before.”

Though he knows many in Canada are struggling to stay calm during this time of uncertainty, the main piece of advice he has — which has gotten him through a disturbing period where he saw his hometown endure thousands of deaths — is this:

“Keep connected with family and friends and check in with them regularly to ensure they are fine, and give each other emotional support. Don’t panic and remember to keep eat well and sleep well. A good immune system will prevent you get sick during this difficult time.”

“We will all overcome this part of history.”

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