Two visitors to the valley, Eli Linton and Caitlin O’Connor, have had an up close and personal view of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning. Linton, who grew up in Hamilton, and his partner O’Connor have been in the Bitterroot for the past few weeks after leaving Asia because of the pandemic.
“We’ve been running from this disease all around the world since January,” said Linton. “It’s been stressful.”
Linton grew up in Fresno and moved with his family to Hamilton in 1998. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended college and then taught social studies in the public schools there. He was a union representative during the teachers’ walkouts a couple of years ago. During this time, he also completed his masters in administration.
“I was experiencing some discontentment with the education system there, and I wanted to see the world,” he said.
He looked into teaching in different areas and was looking at South Korea when one of the recruiters suggested China instead. He told Linton there were many opportunities there and so Linton decided to go there.
He and O’Connor, who had been living in California and teaching English as a second language, decided to give China a try. They quit their jobs in May and moved to Shenzhen, China, in early August.
Shenzhen is a really large city, 23 million, on the border of Hong Kong. It is a very new city, only in existence for the last 20 years, and it is the tech center of China. Linton said that across China there really are no neighborhoods, instead, hundreds of thousands of sky rise apartment complexes. The complex they lived in housed 10,000 people in one building alone. There are about 100,000 in the complex itself.
Because Shenzhen is on the border near Hong Kong, the couple were able to go there a couple times a month. “China itself is very homogenous, the food and everything. Hong Kong gave us a taste of home.”
But it wasn’t all great. They were there during the protests by Hong Kong residents concerning Hong Kong’s laws about extradition to Mainland China. Linton said it was one more historical event they had seen this last year.
In China, the entire country shuts down for Chinese New Year. This year it was January 15. Linton and O’Connor had planned their vacation to include a trip to South Korea to see friends, then to Japan, and finally to Vietnam.
“Because of the massive size of China itself, we were participating in human history, the sheer amount of people traveling abroad from China.”
He said they weren’t worried about the outbreak of the novel coronavirus at that time. They were close to 2,000 miles away and the government had shut everything down in Wuhan province.
They went to South Korea and then while in Japan, they realized the potential magnitude of the situation. They decided to go back to China and were in Shanghai when everyone was told to self-isolate. Linton and O’Connor were able to get back to Shenzhen to their apartment where they packed up and left on January 29th to return to the US.
Linton said that when they took off from Shanghai, their tickets were checked three or four times and there was initially a health screening. A long line walked through a machine like a metal detector where the person’s temperature was taken. Then, there was a person in a hazmat suit that took the temperature again. If there was a fever, the person was taken off to the side. These people were tested for COVID-19 and if positive, had to stay at a nearby hotel. If the person was negative, they had to self-quarantine for another 14 days.
When they arrived in Shenzhen, they had their temperature taken again as they left the gate. It was taken again as they boarded the Metro that took them to their apartment and then taken again when they entered the complex.
Linton said that everyone has an app on their phone where the government can check on you and everyone had to report to the government every day. They had to tell if they were experiencing symptoms, or if they had been in physical contact with anyone from Wuhan. The guards at the apartment complex would scan everyone coming and going. All entrances but one were shut down to the complexes. If they went to the grocery store, where there was no fresh food, their temperature was taken there too. Linton said that because China has an authoritarian government, it was much easier to enact the full quarantine almost immediately.
The couple stayed one night in their apartment and then departed for Vietnam. They were on one of the last flights out of Hong Kong before the airport was shut down. They stayed in Vietnam until their visas almost ran out. “Vietnam really controlled the virus well because they are also an authoritarian country and had shut the airports early. We didn’t feel in danger there. We decided to come back to the States to save money and hunker down. In hindsight, we probably should have gone back to China.”
He said that while they are glad to be home and around family, the difference in the way the two countries have handled the pandemic is quite stark.
When this is over, the couple plan on going back to China. Linton said the people there are so friendly and patient with them. “I want people to know that the Chinese people are really good people. They are way different from us but I don’t think they hold any grudges against us, the common everyday people, that is.”
These days, Linton spends his nights teaching online classes to his school in Shenzhen. He teaches English language arts, and English as a second language for students with various levels of understanding.
“I don’t want to scare people here in America, I would really like to communicate (that) the Chinese people are really interested in America. We’re a global community. We are a lot more similar than we are different. They want to take care of their family and be safe just like here.”
As a reminder, Montana is now under a Stay at Home directive from the Governor. People should maintain a distance of at least six feet apart when out in public and only go into public places if absolutely necessary. Wash your hands frequently and do not touch your face. Also, while the photo shows Linton and O’Conner wearing a mask, these masks are needed here for medical personnel. For more information, check this website: https://covid19.mt.gov.
Carmel says
I just read about the couple that was working in China and now among the people in Hamilton. As I hate to be negative about this couple; at this point no doctor or scientist has answer on how this coronavirus is spread….I just read that person could never have symptoms but still carry the germ and pass it on to someone else. This couple most likely and I’m sure had all the shots inclusive of the malaria pills that person needs to travel to third world counties. It might be possible that there immune system is better protective than an elderly person that lives here in the valley. It is people like these that don’t think about others. Once, the USA allowed cruise lines to dock on our shores/ planes to land on our soil this epidemic skyrocketed. I hope these two people are staying inside , however I see they drinking wine somewhere? hopefully not at near by bar or in someone backyard.