Inner turmoil

Liu, from Zhengzhou, Henan province, has been working as an accountant for a startup company in Beijing's Chaoyang district for about two years.

She returned to Beijing following the Spring Festival holiday in late January. After spending 14 days in quarantine, Liu has always worn a surgical mask whenever she leaves her rented apartment. One reason is that the health authorities have repeatedly asked the public to wear masks to prevent transmission of the virus, the other is to protect herself from the pollens she is allergic to.

Her company began asking some employees to work in the office early last month. Since then, she has donned a face mask, goggles and a hat whenever she ventures outdoors, but the protection they offer from pollens is not perfect.

One morning, about two weeks ago, Liu started to sneeze and cough while on her way to work. She wasn't sure whether her flu-like symptoms were caused by her pollen allergy or something else.

"I couldn't focus on my work that day and thought many times about where I had been and whether I was likely to have been in contact with anyone related to a novel coronavirus patient since returning to Beijing," she said.

Liu said she tested her temperature every three hours that day and all of the readings were within the healthy range during the day time, but with a rising trend. That night it was 37.1 C, which worried her so much that she couldn't face eating dinner.

"I called my parents and told them I might have a fever, which also made them extremely anxious, as we know that fever is one of the key features of novel coronavirus infection," she said. "Then my parents calmed me down and asked me to take some drugs for seasonal flu and have a good rest."

However, the medicine didn't alleviate her symptoms and her eyes started to itch that night. She sent a text message to her boss, reported her situation and asked for a day off to have a medical checkup.

"I thought about a lot that night," Liu said. "If I got infected, what should I do? Who was I going to call? Who would take care of my parents? Whether my boss would deduct my salary or even fire me because I couldn't work … a picture of an infected patient lying on a bed with a pipe connected to a ventilator even appeared in my mind."

She finally fell asleep, suspecting afterward that the medicine might have helped. The first thing she did after waking up was to test her temperature again. The result, 36.2 C, made her feel much better as it was well under the 37.3 C signifying a mild fever.

"Anyone would be nervous in this special period if they had such symptoms because novel coronavirus pneumonia can be fatal and anyone infected could be in big trouble," Liu said.