DALLAS — "I'm in Wuhan and the city is in quarantine," 29-year-old Warren Lee described on a YouTube video published Sunday. Lee is from the Dallas area and went to Wuhan, China to visit his girlfriend for the Chinese New Year.
"It's not the apocalypse out here as much as people have been saying," he reassured his viewers in the video.
YouTube is his easiest way to let people at home know he's OK.
Lee spoke to WFAA on Thursday, about a week since the quarantine began in Wuhan.
"Days are kind of starting to blur together," he said.
He describes the streets of Wuhan as empty. He said it's normally quiet during the week of New Year celebrations, but it's unusually quiet now. Luckily, he and his girlfriend stocked up on food and water knowing stores would be closed for the holiday.
Every few days, Lee will put on a mask and go to the grocery store to get more food and supplies.
"You can't go into the grocery store, but if you need something, you just scan a QR code," he said. "You place an order for what vegetables and other stuff you need. And then you pay them digitally, and they bring the order out to you."
He said the people of Wuhan are making it work and adjusting day by day.
Even though he is limiting outside activity, Lee said he is still comfortable and healthy in Wuhan.
He is unsure when he will return to Texas but will wait until the quarantine is lifted.
Thursday, federal health officials announced the first case of person-to-person transmission of Wuhan coronavirus in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Health said that the new case involves a man married to the Chicago woman who had been diagnosed with the new China coronavirus last week.
Health officials stressed that the immediate risk to the American public remains low and explained that these two individuals were husband and wife and had close contact with each other while the woman was symptomatic.
The TEGNA news network contributed to this report.
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