Chapter 2: Following Days

“My fellow citizens, good day to you all. Please don’t panic at what I will say,” the mayor said at her address the next morning. Doc was in the mayor’s office, as the mayor and the chief medical officer took turns in informing what should the citizens do.

“I advise you all not to go to the grocery stores, as the mayor’s office procured all the goods there. Don’t worry, I promise you all that these will be distributed equally,” the mayor said. Everyone was shocked by that, as no one had tried that strategy before.

Doc remembered the COVID-19 pandemic 15 years before. Wellsworth wasn’t much affected, as it was a rural town, but he remembered the chaotic lines and hoarding in grocery stores back in his home country.

“We, the doctors, suspected through everything that has happened that the cause was of a virus. So we advise everyone to wear masks and practice distancing,” the chief medical officer said.

“We also discourage travellers to enter the city, and the mayor requested stricter border control here. If whatsoever you have just entered the city, we would advise that you quarantine in your hotel room for 14 days,” the officer continued.

Fortunately, no one went to the grocery store. They all wore masks and practiced distancing. And as the mayor said, relief goods were released the day after.

4 people were already critical, Patient No. 1 was at the verge of death! She was already in her early 70s, and her heartbeat had reached flatline many times.

However, one of those unaffected earlier started sneezing loudly, and it irritated other patients in the hospital. A few minutes later, he had stopped, and he released a shout of pain afterwards. It seems like he fractured a rib, as there was something was loose in his abdomen.

The ambassador’s visit was continued, and they were requested not to leave the city, so as to stop the spread of the disease. But they declined, and he went home to Finburg, with his entourage, within the day.

Sleepless nights followed that day, as Doc and his colleagues were busy treating patients and researching about the cause of the disease.

Days later, someone from the hospital had learned of the cause. He isolated a snot sample from Patient No. 5, and detected a virus under the microscope. It was an evolved form of the rhinovirus, and it was nicknamed “The Sleepy Virus” by another doctor.

It took three more days before there was another case of the virus, raising the number to 6. People still kept going out and hanging out at the riverside, where there were mask-less people celebrating!

Even though the number of tourists coming in the city were limited, there were still cars and buses almost freely coming in and out of the city, as there was no way the virus could be detected.

This can cause a potential outbreak, Doc thought. So he prompted to go to the mayor’s office, suggesting her to already impose a city-wide quarantine.

Together with some colleagues, they crossed the road to the mayor’s office. “I can’t impose a lockdown,” the mayor said. “The city waits for an important shipment from Denburg,” she added.

That shipment was about to leave in three days. It contained goods like food, hygiene kits, and of course, lots of alcohol.

The meeting almost ended empty-handed when one of Doc’s colleagues proposed the people to be restricted in and only in their houses. He also proposed that no one should go in or go out, except for the ship that will arrive in days.

It was settled; the mayor will announce it in the evening news later. Border control was needed, so the mayor immediately called the police to enforce.

Doc checked his social media later, and he was shocked by the anger the people expressed at the mayor’s announcement. But just as Doc was going to sleep, he heard something new.

Someone not in Patient No. 1’s cabin was already infected, and he was at the train station yesterday. Doc is expecting an outbreak, but he hoped that train station was not the start of an outbreak.