Page 22 - CLT022420

22 ¦ FEBRUARY 24, 2020 NEWS

¦ From CORONAVIRUS on PAGE 21
places. Jingtian & Gongcheng was among the first to
organize firmwide donations and purchased Rmb1
million worth of medical supplies for hospitals in
Hubei in January.
King & Wood Mallesons’ offices in Hong Kong,
the U.S., and Tokyo worked with the firm’s char-
ity arm KWM Public Interest Foundation and have
helped purchase and ship several batches of medi-
cal equipment and supplies to Hubei. Zhong Lun
and its charity foundation raised Rmb4 million
for hospitals in Wuhan and neighboring cities as
well as lawyers in Hubei for protection and treat-
ment if they are infected. JunHe also raised over
Rmb1 million to give to Hubei hospitals as well as
for protection for front line community workers in
Beijing. And the list goes on. Clifford Chance also
joined the efforts and made a donation.
Most firms have started normal operations in
offices outside of Hubei from this week; there are
still people traveling or under quarantine who Globe feels threatened by coronavirus.

need to work remotely, and travel restrictions off and made to promise that he wouldn’t spread any
continue to prevent business meetings and other more rumors. The story of people “lying” about a
types of gatherings. Lawyers at Grandall Law Firm new SARS virus made national television on New
and Shanghai-based EY affiliate law firm Chen & Year’s Day.
Co worked with mobile office software developer Few people believed him then. Many of us
Bitzsoft and developed a remote office platform for mourning him, shaming national media, the gov-
any Chinese lawyer to use for free for a year. ernment and the police didn’t believe him. I was
But despite this, there is hardly any good news. suspicious when I first heard about it. I remember
A week ago, Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at being dismissive when a friend told me in early
Wuhan Central Hospital, died after contracting the January, “I heard Wuhan has feidian again.” Feid-
coronavirus. He was 34, leaving behind his parents, ian is how SARS is referred to on the mainland.
who were also infected, a young child and a preg- Many of us, scarred by the outbreak that plagued
nant wife. Li died around 3 a.m., but nobody went the country in 2003, didn’t want to believe it could
to bed. I got constant updates of posts, messages and come back.
images of mourning from lawyers, friends and peo- But it did, in a much worse form. I was wrong.
ple who never post on social media. In the middle of Many people were wrong. And now the entire coun-
the night, the entire country was overwhelmed with try and beyond are paying the price for not believing
a mix of anger, sorrow and regret. Dr. Li and his colleagues. I’m paying that price by
I was more on the regret end. Li was mourned as a being confined in my home, unable to leave and un-
national hero because he was one of the first people able to go back to work in Hong Kong. All flights
to warn the public about the SARS-like coronavirus, between my city and Hong Kong are canceled until
blowing the whistle on the disastrous outbreak some the end of March. I don’t know when and how I can
people were trying to cover up. He wasn’t believed, go to Hong Kong.
of course, and was summoned by the local police af- I work from home now as others in China do.
ter warning his classmates on WeChat. He was told Working from home is one thing, working from

CONNECTICUT
Law Tribune