More 'we', less 'I': A prescription for pandemic control

When I was doing my seven-plus-day home quarantine recently, I watched the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die. The storyline of the $250 million production follows the plot of its prequel Spectre, in which the CRISPR bioweapon was modified by a MI6-backed scientist into a kind of nanobot weapon for, well, protecting the United Kingdom. CRISPR, the acronym for clustered interspersed short palindromic repeats, is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea.

In the film, the lab is broken into and the scientist kidnapped. The "retired" agent Bond (Daniel Craig) is prompted back into action by a friend from the CIA, Luther, to rescue the rogue scientist. Of course, nothing is straightforward in this oracle-like British movie directed by a Japanese American, Cary Joji Fukunaga.

The timing of the movie－it started shooting in 2019－coupled with the delayed release due to its theme (a plague that ends the world), enshrouds No Time to Die in layers of mystery. Was the movie affected by the pandemic or did it predict it? The plot thickens when the scientific formula is robbed by another CIA agent acting as the lackey of a vengeful villain, Safin (Rami Malek)－h(huán)imself orphaned because of the weapon－who is after Bond's girlfriend and their five-year old daughter.

The movie ends with a reverberating twist, where James Bond dies. In fact, he dies saving not, at least not directly, the world but his immediate family. Amazingly, notwithstanding its save-the-world genre, the movie weaves a story of homecoming, of Bond's belated realization of what is most important in life and how one should live responsibly amid a world-threatening plague through personal sacrifice. Bond dies so that his progeny could live－a redemptive ending.

Too much of 'I', too little of 'we'

Although my wife and our youngest son had to move out for a week, my seven-plus-day home quarantine was bliss compared with my 14 days of centralized quarantine in a facility in Minhang district of Shanghai prior to my return to Guangzhou. Confession: the food and sound proofing were suboptimal but the healthcare folks at the factory-dormitory-turned-quarantine-facility were professional, experienced and diligent.

My room of 20-24 square meters was clean, fairly new, and most importantly, fitted with a big window which enabled ample sun light and fresh air. I was so grateful of my quarantine that I left a hand-written "thank you" card on the cabinet the day I left, on Nov 26, 2021. Another reason for my "happy stay" was a book I read during the 14 days, Morality by Jonathan Sacks, who passed away abruptly on Nov 7, 2020. The message of the book is straightforward: the biggest problem facing the Western world today is too much of "I" and too little of "we".

In conclusion, Sacks reflects deeply on the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain, heaping praise upon the healthcare workers and volunteers while disparaging politicians and leaders who mismanaged and/or exploited the crisis. Incidentally, I bought the book during my trip to the UK, having visited my son at Warwick University, Coventry.

Given the COVID-19-induced travel restrictions, I had not seen our firstborn for 20 months. As I traveled across Guangzhou, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Birmingham, London, Helsinki and back, I underwent 16 nucleic acid and two immunoglobulin tests. What was originally conceived as a family episode of a Tintin-like adventure turned out to be an excruciatingly harrowing and yet deeply healing father-son reunion. Personal sacrifice is necessary for the communal good－in my case familial reconciliation, tuanyuan.

Quarantine not fun, but a necessity

Let me be honest, quarantine is not fun. It took me almost 40 days from the day I left home till the day I met my wife again, befitting the original (Italian) meaning of the word "quarantine", which comes from quarantena or "forty days", a designated period for all ships visiting Venice to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague in the 14th and 15th centuries.

My trip came on the heels of a uniquely China's experience, though, something I had never experienced before in my 15 years of stay in China spanning Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Seven of my staff in Guangzhou were asked to work from home from June 1 to July 2 last year by the authorities given the spike in COVID-19 cases in the southern Chinese city. In addition, another nine staff, out of both fear and safety concerns, asked to work from home for a couple of weeks.

As the general manager, I supported the idea despite the strains the arrangement would impose on business. We recalibrated our work and sought help from colleagues in the Beijing and Shanghai offices. Instinctively, we knew we were in this together.

One of the staffs went through 23 nucleic acid tests within 28 days. Fortunately, our officials in Beijing and customers in Guangzhou understood our situation. Although our business was impacted, the team stayed intact and grew closer. We emerged from the test stronger, knowing we could count on each other. Again, the process was painful for the "I"s but necessary to protect the "we", even in business.

Health crisis global, but response local

Reflecting on the pandemic, it is clear that while the public health crisis is global, response to the crisis is local, and the lesser the "I", the better for the "we". Looking at our world today when the new is waiting to be born from the old, I am reminded of a famous speech by John Winthrop, the Cambridge-trained lawyer who became the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in March 1630.

Onboard of the Arbella, braving devouring storms and faced with the unprecedented challenges of the New World, Winthrop encouraged his fellow settlers with a moving speech, saying "that every man might have need of others… no man is made more honorable than another, or more wealthy …we must be knit together in this work as one man… we must delight in each other, make others' conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together…"

In particular, the founder of the city of Boston was pleading for his settlers to develop more of "we" while restraining the "I". It was only through a combination of group discipline and individual responsibility that New England－and subsequently the United States of America－was born. Winthrop's speech has been quoted by subsequent leaders and presidents of the US as "City upon a Hill", and remains a must-read for every student of American literature.

In our world, all men are brothers and women sisters. Shouldering each other's burden in times of need, even if it means making personal sacrifices such as experiencing the inconvenience of wearing a face mask, being quarantined, undergoing nucleic acid tests or encountering border controls. This is especially true during cathartic moments when challenges and opportunities commingle. In this context, the latest Edelman Trust Report 2022 ranks China extremely high in terms of trust.

Fake news raising societal problems

Surveying 36,000 respondents from 28 countries, the report shows that societal fears are on the rise due to fake news and governments' inability to solve societal problems. Worse, the report says, if left unchecked, the cycle of distrust would threaten social stability.

Fortunately, China has done exceedingly well in all the areas surveyed. The report shows that people in China trust the government, media, NGOs and businesses, especially because of, but not limited to, its handling of the pandemic. Yet there is no room for complacency.

Having experienced the charge of the Ox last year, we should find better ways to tell the China story to the world in the Year of the Tiger. We need to harness the explanation of more "we" and less "I", both internally and to neighbors near and far. From business to media, they must explain, graciously, the "why" of the "what" and "how" the pandemic and the economy are being handled.

We need more homegrown historians like Jonathan Spence (who passed away on Christmas Day in 2021) and storytellers such as Lulu Wang, who directed the Hollywood movie The Farewell, which is based on an inspiring true story from Jilin.

Let me conclude by borrowing a phrase from The Farewell, "life belongs to the individual in the West, over here in the East, life belongs to the community". So, is quarantine necessary? For now, it's unavoidable.

The author is the general manager of a foreign bank based in Guangzhou.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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