Today I heard the sad news of the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. Dr. Li was the one who first told the world about the possibility of a virus, that is similar to the SARS virus, infecting people in Wuhan. Unfortunately, his plea for public response was censored by the local government. Not only that, Dr. Li was forced to admitting that he was passing false rumor. Eventually Dr. Li himself was diagnosed with the virus and died.
Rightfully, Dr. Li is hailed as a hero today for both alerting the world of a possible epidemic and also for dying from taking care of his patients. It is unfortunate that the government attacked Dr. Li instead of listening to what he said. I understand that false rumors spreading through highly populated cities in China can cause panics. But given that Dr. Li is a trained physician who was at the front line taking care of patients, the Wuhan government should not have silenced Dr. Li's alert. If the investigations had started when Dr. Li alerted the authorities, at least some of the lives lost could have been prevented. Maybe even Dr, Li's life.
I think the Chinese national government has done better this time than during the SARS epidemic. But there are rooms for improvement, especially at the local level where the first response have to occur quickly. Hopefully, Dr. Li has not died in vain. Hopefully his legacy will be that when the next epidemic hits, China will do better. Given the dense population of China, there will be a next epidemic. Rest in peace, Dr. Li Wenliang.
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