Doctor who was silenced for sounding alarm about coronavirus dies of disease

The Washington Post reported this morning that 34-year-old Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, died today of novel coronavirus disease.

As early as December 30, Dr. Li tried to warn his medical school classmates about the existence of a contagious new virus that resembled SARS. Li’s warning began to spread throughout China, but his posts were censored, and on January 1 he was detained by police for “rumor-mongering.” He was released two days later, after signing a document admitting the illegality of making “untrue statements” on social media and promising that he would “earnestly reflect” on his mistakes.

After detaining Li, Wuhan police appeared on Chinese state television to discourage the public from spreading rumors. That same day, a coordinated media initiative told Internet users throughout China to not believe online rumors and help maintain a “clear and bright cyberspace.”

Within a week of his release from police detention, Li returned to work and began to receive a flood of patient checking into Wuhan’s hospitals with respiratory distress. He began coughing on January 10, he later recalled, and checked himself into the hospital as a patient around January 16. On February 1 he posted on social media that he had tested positive for coronavirus. He shared with his followers that he had quarantined himself as soon as he suspected infection, but his mother and father had recently been hospitalized for fever and he did not know whether they had contracted the virus. Also at risk were Li’s pregnant wife and young child.

The outpouring of support lifted Li’s spirits after the crackdown on his warning. “I’ve seen the support and encouragement so many people online have given me,” he wrote. “It makes me feel a little more relaxed in my heart.” Luo Yu, a technology industry executive who was one of Li’s college classmates, wrote that “The Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology,” in a widely circulated post. And in a rare censure of police, China’s judicial authorities wondered whether the epidemic might have unfolded differently if Li had not been silenced. Upon learning of his death, Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, commented, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did.”

Shortly after his death was confirmed a literary verse began to circulate on social media, in response to Li’s courage: “He who holds the firewood for the masses,” they wrote, “is the one who freezes to death in wind and snow.”

~~ Amy McPhie Allebest

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-doctor-who-tried-to-raise-alarm-on-coronavirus-in-wuhan-dies-from-disease/2020/02/06/8bf305a2-48f9-11ea-8a1f-de1597be6cbc_story.html