Days of an Italian Professor Fighting Against Coronavirus

By Bo Ning

Sara Platto, an Italian associate professor at Jianghan University, has been very busy recently. In addition to her work as a veterinarian and animal behavior expert, she has also shared her personal experience in Wuhan during the COVID-19 epidemic on social media, which has attracted the attention of media outlets from all over the world. So she has received constant interview invitations.

When I asked if she had ever been anxious or depressed staying in Wuhan during the lockdown, she replied firmly, “Never.” Her answers to why she chose to stay are also clear and certain: first, Wuhan is my home, and it would be weird to “escape” from your home; second, she made her own risk assessment and found out it was safer staying at home anyway; third, she and her family could not leave without their cats.

Professor Sara Platto and her son Matteo薩拉和她的兒子Matteo

Why was she never depressed? Her reply was quite simple: there were about ten Italians who stayed in Wuhan. They set up a WeChat group chat, where people who were not so familiar with each other became friends in these times of adversity. Through this WeChat group called “The Survivors,” they share credible information, avoid fake news, and share their daily lives. Like many Chinese who are stuck at home, they have more time to cook and do housework and share various short videos. Like family members, they rely on each other and exchange their thoughts, so that they can have a good laugh every day, making the time at home not so boring. For her, laughter is the best medicine.Even her 12-year-old son has never complained. He has no problem staying at home 24 hours a day. Every day he keeps his daily routine. Whenever his Italian friends called, worrying about his situation, he would say, “It’s OK. I’m fine.” Maybe that’s because his mom has always been positive.

Although life in lockdown and the apps for community bulk purchase once confused her, she felt lucky because her residential community and neighbors around her provided a lot of help, and her university sent her a lot of food every two weeks, so much that she needed to find neighbors to share it all with.

Sarah has been in China for 13 years, of which 8 years have been in Wuhan. She has long regarded Wuhan as her home. After this epidemic, she feels that she is more attached to the city and is more aware of the value of the community. She was impressed by the kindness and help she had received from neighbors she didn’t know before, as well as from a large number of volunteers. At the same time, she strongly agreed with Wuhan’s strict control policy, deeming it the only way to control the spread of the virus.

Through the Internet, she showed the real life of Wuhan and shared short videos such as how to make DIY face masks and disinfectant spray. She also conveys her view that the coming of the epidemic is a stark reminder of our dysfunctional relationship with nature, and we need to reflect on our behaviors and way of life. As there are no tourists visiting the Venice Canal during the lockdown, dolphins that haven’t appeared for a long time are back now. This is a counterattack from nature, which has taken place not only in Wuhan, China, but also around the world. If we don’t reflect and change our behavior, natural counterattacks will come back in some other way. Therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to prevent another disaster from happening.

江漢大學意大利籍副教授薩拉·普拉托最近很忙，作為動物學專家她除了一直不間斷地工作以外，還在社交媒體上分享了疫情期間她在武漢的親身經歷，從而獲得了世界各國媒體的關注，采訪邀約不斷。

當我問及疫情期間，留在武漢是否有過焦慮或者沮喪，她很肯定地回答：“從沒有過。”就和解釋她留在武漢的原因一樣，肯定而清晰：第一，武漢是她的家，逃離讓人感覺怪怪的；第二，她做了危機分析，認為哪兒都不去更為安全；第三，她和家人不可能選擇自己回國而把寵物貓留下。

為什么沒有過焦慮呢？很簡單，留在武漢的意大利人大約有10 名，他們組建了一個微信群。就這樣，一群原本不那么熟悉的人，成為了共克時艱的患難之交。通過這個微信群，他們分享真實的信息，篩除謠言，分享各自的生活。和中國的眾多宅家人士一樣，他們有更多的時間做飯做家務，分享各種小視頻，像親人一樣互相依賴和傾吐心事，從而每天都能開懷大笑，讓宅在家中的時光也不那么乏善可陳。對她來說，開心便是最好的良藥。

即便是她12 歲的兒子，也從來沒有抱怨過。對他來說，一天24 小時待在家里一點問題也沒有。他每天的時間都安排得井井有條，每當意大利的小伙伴問及他的近況，他都會說：“沒事，我很好?！被蛟S，這也是因為薩拉一直保持著非常積極的心態(tài)。

雖然封閉的生活和社區(qū)團購的小程序也曾讓薩拉摸不著頭腦，但她覺得很幸運，因為她所在的社區(qū)和周圍的鄰居提供了很多的幫助，而她所在的大學每兩周會給她送一次食物，量大到她需要找鄰居來分享。

薩拉在華13年，在漢也有8年，早已把武漢視為自己的家，而經此一疫，她覺得對這座城市的感情更深了，也更加意識到社區(qū)的價值。以前并不那么認識的鄰人，如今提供了如此多暖心的幫助，還有大量的志愿者們，都令她印象深刻。同時，她非常贊同武漢所采取的嚴管政策，認為這是唯一能控制病毒傳播的方式。

通過網(wǎng)絡，她傳遞出武漢的真實生活，分享了諸如如何自制口罩和消毒噴霧的視頻，也在傳達著她的觀點：疫情的來臨，原因在于人們打破了自然的邊界，我們需要反思自己的行為和生活方式。要知道，隔離之下沒了游客，威尼斯運河里許久沒有出現(xiàn)過的海豚都回來了。這是自然的一次反攻，它不僅僅發(fā)生在中國武漢，還發(fā)生在世界各地。如果我們不反思和改變自己的行為，自然的反攻還會以其他的方式卷土重來。因此，阻止災難的來臨，關乎每一個人，是所有人的責任。