'I'm in an Apocalypse': American Student Trapped in Virus-Hit Chinese City

Channel News Asia ^ | 30 Jan 2020

[nickcarraway]

For almost a week, 21-year-old American-born college student Nicholas Schneider has been trying and failing to find a way out of Wuhan, China, the quarantined city at the heart of a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak.

An eerie calm has descended on the normally bustling streets of the city of 11 million people, where Schneider has been studying geodesy - a branch of applied mathematics - at Wuhan University, about 16km from where experts believe the new coronavirus originated in a market illegally trading in wildlife.

"It's like a ghost town, barely any people and cars. It's a weird feeling. I feel like I'm in an apocalypse somehow," said Schneider in a phone interview with Reuters on Wednesday (Jan 29).

[bgill]

Book smart but zero common sense. He should have gotten out days/weeks ago before the quarantine. He still could have gotten out by leaving through back roads which aren’t and can’t be guarded. Heck, commercial planes were still leaving last week.

Call the WH and they’ll put him on one of the planes bringing in diplomats and others. Ok, he did but did he thought they’d send a limo to pick him up? He apparently doesn’t know how to obtain a scooter.

The guy has dual citizenship so call German for help. He has twice as many avenues than most other foreigners.

[bgill]

The one with the guy who broke his glasses and couldn’t read books anymore? That’s one freaky episode.

[21twelve]

I get a wonderful, child-like feeling walking down the deserted street during a snowfall that stops most traffic. Quiet, peaceful. Reminds me of my youth in the upper Midwest.

I’m guessing that walking down a deserted 8-lane road in the middle of a city of 11 million people would give me a distinctly different feeling.

[bgill]

Starting tomorrow. What about today or last week?

[9YearLurker]

Dual citizen who mostly lived his life in Germany, but didn’t turn to them until after he missed his US flight out. And now he’s whining about the US.

[9YearLurker]

Reading between the lines it sounds as if he only has US citizenship because his German parents were in the US when he was born—and because the globalists have contorted our Constitution to thus give it to him.

[9YearLurker]

Yeah, I’m gonna guess he isn’t a Mormon.

[bgill]

Aw, I see it now. Page was jumping around so gave up before reading that.

Schneider said he will hunker down in his room, heading out only to go to a nearby market for fresh water and food. When he leaves, he plans to wear a black cap with the logo of the Miami Heat basketball team, gloves and a thick cloth mask over his mouth and nose.

Going out is not hunkering down. He has to go out for water? Does that mean he doesn't have indoor plumbing, either? Did he not understand to buy more than one can of soup the last few times he's been out shopping? With everyone else buying real masks he didn't buy so much as a clue to get some himself? Geez. Guaranteed he'll take that cloth off his face and re-wrap it with the germy part on his mouth.

[null and void]

Is this suitable for your Bring Out the Dead ping list?

Oh yes!

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

[NorseViking]

I have no idea but probably it involved some diplomacy for the Russian military to obtain permit to operate in China.

[Hot Tabasco]

Of all the places he could have done a “study abroad,

Back in 1995 my niece was scheduled to start school at the University of the Caribbean campus on Montserrat, until it was destroyed by the volcano.

So all the students were instructed to report to the campus on St. Thomas.. No sooner had she gotten there and started her classes, they were hit by hurricane Marilyn........LOL!

[Hot Tabasco]

Here in SE Michigan we were affected by the NE blackout in Aug. of 2003.

That was really weird. No electricity and a six lane highway by me completely dark and devoid of any traffic.....

People don't realize what the loss of electricity that powers stop lights will do to a heavily trafficked locality. Every high traffic intersection now becomes a 4 way stop. I lived 17 miles from work and it took me four and a half hours to get home from work that day.

[Oratam]

"This is Wuhan. Once a city of eleven million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. . . .

[Veggie Todd]

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world...”

I liked when Andy Garcia said half that line to George Clooney in Oceans 11. Nice homage to Bogey.

[BobL]

Hey Nick (not you Carraway, the guy in the article), you can take off your face mask for a selfie. There aren’t any reports of Coronavirus spreading to I-Phones, at least so far.

[BobL]

“The one with the guy who broke his glasses and couldn’t read books anymore? That’s one freaky episode.”

That’s what he gets for not getting Lasik when he had the chance.

[AppyPappy]

From 2010. A study in China
“The discovery of SARS-like coronavirus in bats suggests that bats could be the natural reservoir of SARS-CoV. “
State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00705-010-0729-6

[who knows what evil?]

Oh, grow a pair, Nicholas...

[BobL]

“Does that mean he doesn’t have indoor plumbing, either?”

Despite much of China now being first world (and cities like Wuhan certainly are, thanks to our Globalists), the water is still considered unsafe to drink throughout the country. Being that he likely never learned survival skills, or laughed it off when offered (like many here), he doesn’t realize that all he needs to do is boil his water, and most people, hotel rooms, etc. do have water boilers - or at least stoves.

In fact, on many of our travels, even to India, that’s what we do - boil tap water, and we’ve never gotten sick - the bugs cannot survive a nice boiling. One other option is bleach, but I’m not sure it’s as effective (but it is still good, if fresh), and you have to be sure that you have clean bleach (nothing else added, like fragrance). Of course you can do both, although we stopped at just boiling.

[Malsua]

But an embassy official told him he would have to get himself to the airport on the other side of Wuhan, 48km away,

48K is 30 miles. There are bicycles EVERYWHERE in China. You could make 30 miles in 3 hours at a leisurely pace. Wuhan is flat as a board, so anyone could manage it. Apparently this kid wasn't too motivated. I'm also quite sure he could have asked around and flashed some cash and someone would have driven him at least part of the way.