They escaped China. Now they wait for the pandemic to end.
In early February, as their flight departed the airport in Wuhan, China, William Lowe and his wife, Xiaoli, thought they had escaped the most dangerous place on Earth.
The Maryland couple and their 5-year-old daughter had been visiting Xiaoli's parents in Hubei province, the original hot spot of the novel coronavirus outbreak, when they were evacuated. When the cargo plane chartered by the U.S. government to fly them and other Americans out of China finally landed at Travis Air Force Base in California, William breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Back on U.S. soil, he felt a sense of security. He believed the human and medical disaster unfolding in China couldn't happen here. He trusted the United States would respond with its scientific and economic might to prevent an outbreak of similar scale.
That was then.
Following a two-week quarantine at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, the family returned to their Baltimore County home and soon realized the invisible threat they had escaped in China was already spreading quickly in the United States. Now, two months after leaving Wuhan, they find themselves anxiously waiting for the pandemic to peak in their community. And wondering about what will follow.
In the meantime, the sense of security he felt about being back in the United States has evaporated.
"I assumed the federal government would be doing things to prepare. The level at which that wasn't done is astounding and exasperating," William, who is on sabbatical from his teaching position at Howard County Community College, said in a phone interview. "That period of denial has put us in a much worse position."
When they first arrived back from China, Xiaoli, a doctoral candidate in the school of education at the University of Maryland, would call her family every day to check on them and make sure none had caught the virus. Now the tables have turned. It is her family and friends in China who call and email to check on her health and safety.
"They are all very worried about us," Xiaoli said. "My high school classmates have collected masks to send to me. Every day they ask me how I'm doing and what I need."
In China, Xiaoli said, life is slowly starting to return to normal. Schools are still closed, but more and more people, including her siblings and her father, have returned to work. Her family and friends still get their temperature taken when they leave their homes in the morning and when they go into stores and supermarkets. There is an extensive tracking system that attempts to test and isolate anyone showing coronavirus symptoms.
"People are relaxing a little bit, but I think everyone is being very cautious because they know there are asymptomatic people," she said. "No one really goes to public places. Big restaurants are not open."
Having life return to normal in Maryland feels a long way off for Xiaoli, William and their daughter. Xiaoli has not left the home in more than a month, other than to take short walks in the neighborhood. All of the family's food is delivered. The only interaction with the outside world is on social media video platforms. William rides his bike, but at Xiaoli's urging he has gone out less.
"I'm just more concerned all the time," Xiaoli said. "The message that this virus is very dangerous really registers with me both through my experiences and my mom's constant nagging."
Xiaoli said she's pleased with how Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has handled the pandemic and credits him for being among the first governors to shut schools and nonessential business. But like her husband, she is dismayed with the federal response and wishes the government would have acted sooner and with more urgency.
"I really feel angry," she said. "I feel the federal government really played this down at the beginning before they took any strict measures."
Until last year, Xiaoli taught in the Baltimore City school system. One of the most difficult things for her has been knowing how many low-income students are stuck at home without computers or laptops. For them, she said, the learning has stopped.
"With this crisis I feel they will be left behind," she said, starting to cry. "The government really needs to allocate more resources to city students. My heart is with the students."
Xiaoli said she takes comfort that so many Americans have practiced social distancing and made great sacrifices to keep themselves and others healthy. But as the death toll in the United States continues to mount and signs point to it becoming the country hardest hit by covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, William and Xiaoli can't help but think about their journey from Wuhan two months ago.
"The irony is that the evacuation flight was to get us out of a danger zone," William said. "And now we're in a danger zone, and things are much worse here than they are in China."
