𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄𝙄: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙑𝙞𝙧𝙪𝙨

Not a common thing for Bhutanese to become a tourist in some rich countries such as USA and UK. However, I became one. The one to live temporarily in New York as a tourist. Not like tourists who visit places for recreation but a tourist to look for a work. A work which gave me dollars. I settled my ground in USA after seeking help from some of my known relatives. The saddest thing was, my husband decided to remain back in Bhutan. Our marriage became distant. I got myself a job where I earned $20 in an hour. My responsibility was to take care of elderly woman who was 97 years old.

I decided to work at least 10 hours per day earning around $200!

I rented an apartment for myself which is quite far from my work place. It was on 25th of December, 2019, around 6 pm, I turned on the TV and switched the Channel to BBC news [British Broadcasting Corporation]. I could not believe what I heard from the news reader.

“China has declared the outbreak of unknown virus from the city of Wuhan. The source of cause was not known. Many people believed that the outbreak was caused from the bat soup. Wuhan is the city of diet variety. People in the community enjoyed hundreds of meats including dogs and bats. The virus is believed to be transferred from one person to another while the infected person touches or sneeze”. 

I was not interested in the new virus. I turned off the TV and rested myself on the bed. 

Somehow in the night, I was awoken. I turned on my mobile and opened the messenger.

There was a message from one of my uncles back in Bhutan.

“Tshering, did you know about the new virus? Many people say that it has high mortality rate and easily transferred from one person to another”.

I was alerted. I could not review any information on the new virus. I became more worried and tried looking for more information.

I typed, “The new virus of china” after opening the Google Chrome.

Hundreds of information came flooding. I preferred BBC website. 

“The new virus of Wuhan is called Coronavirus. China has reported the 1000+ cases of Coronavirus infection in few hours and deaths of three”. 

There was fear running in my veins. Hopefully and optimistically, I was waiting for someone to say, the cure and treatment for the new virus is found.

I could not update myself on the new virus for few days. The normal life went on. Just like me, Americans were following their normal schedule. In the morning, roads were crowded with people going to the work. I was one in many of them.

However, there was doubt running in my mind. Will the virus catch me like those Chinese? 

𝘋𝘳𝘰𝘱 😷 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨😂😂