Accounts of Survivors: Those Who Collect the Ashes and Buy Graveyards 幸存者口述：那些领取骨灰以及购买墓地的人们
Interview time: 10 am, March 24 and 5 pm, Feb 7
访谈时间：3月24号上午10点、2月7日下午5点
Interviewees: A Family member of the deceased of Covid19/Mild symptom patient
访谈对象：新冠肺炎死者家属/轻症患者
At the Cemetery: I need to get up early to line up every day to get a number
公墓：每天都需要早起排队抢号
I live in Qiaokou. This is the hardest-hit area. It is close to the Biandanshan Cemetery. It only takes more than ten minutes to drive across the river. My mother's ashes have not yet been collected. We thought about choosing the cemetery first. We have informed the community and made an appointment with the funeral home. As for the funeral, there is no way to invite relatives to come. We need to wait after the epidemic situation has passed. Many people still cannot go out now.
我住在硚口，这里是疫情重灾区，离扁担山公墓比较近，只需要十几分钟，开车过个江就到了。母亲的骨灰还没有领取，我们想着先来选墓地，已经通知了社区，跟殡仪馆预约了时间。至于说葬礼，现在也没法儿请亲戚们过来，还是等疫情过去了之后再说，很多人目前也出不了门。
I went to the cemetery at five o'clock today. We need to get a number now. They only gave out 70 numbers yesterday and 80 today, and they ended up giving out all their numbers at 7:30 in the morning. Some family members came for three days in a row and finally completed the formalities. The community requested that only two family members can go. So my sister and I went. The price of the selected cemetery is 78,800 yuan ($11,140), and those who died during the epidemic can get a 30% discount, so the price is 54,500 yuan ($7704). Wuhan will not reopen until April 8th. That will be already after Qingming Festival. Some family members chose to store the ashes at the cemetery, which stipulated that they could be stored for a maximum of 3 months. At that time, the city should have already reopened no matter what.
我今天五点钟就去了公墓。现在都需要排号，昨天放了70个，今天放了80个，结果早上七点半的时候就放完了。有的家属连续来了三天，终于办成了手续。社区要求只能去两个家属，我和我姐姐去的。选的墓地价格是七万八千八，疫情期间去世的人可以打七折，算下来是五万四千五。4月8号武汉才解封，已经是清明节之后了。有些家属选择把骨灰寄存在公墓那边，规定最多可以存放3个月，那时候怎么也应该已经解封了。
My mother was less than 71 years old when she passed away. It was February 17th. We received a call from the hospital. At that time, I was still hospitalized in the East and West Lake Fangcang Hospital. My sister went to the hospital, obtained a death certificate for my mother, and took back the deposit for hospitalization. However, she did not see the body, which had been transported directly to the funeral home. The relic was an Apple phone, a medical insurance card, and an ID card, which were disinfected and returned to us after a few days. There were also some personal belongings, such as radios, etc., which were destroyed centrally.
我母亲走的时候还不到71岁，那是2月17号，我们接到了医院的电话，当时我还在东西湖方舱里住院。我姐姐去了医院，给我母亲办理死亡证明，拿回了住院的押金，但没看到遗体，直接运到了殡仪馆，直系家属也不让送。遗物就是一个苹果手机，一张医保卡，还有一个身份证，经过消毒处理，过了几天还给了我们。还有一些个人物品，比如收音机等等，就集中处理了。
When I lined up, there were two old people behind me, in their seventies, who came to buy a cemetery for their deceased son. They told me that their son died only three days after he had a fever. They had a copy of his ID on the list they took. Their son was born in 1977, and only one year younger than me. I couldn't ask for more details, so sad.
排队的时候，我后面是两个老人，七十多岁，他们来给去世的儿子买墓地。他们跟我讲，儿子从发烧到走，三天。他们拿的单子上有身份证的复印件，77年的，只比我小一岁。我也没办法问，伤心事。
There is also an acquaintance next to them, an elderly woman who came to buy a cemetery for her deceased husband. After only saying a few words, the old woman started crying. There are too many such families, some families have more than one who died, such as the director's family (Jennifer’s note: He refers to Chang Kai, whose story available here: The Story of Chang Kai）
旁边还有一个他们的熟人，是一个婆婆，给去世的老伴买墓地。两家人没说几句话，那个老人就哭起来。这种家庭太多了，有的不是走一个，而是走几个，比如那个导演一家。(曾铮注：他应该是指常凯。关于他的报导在这里：常凱的故事）
Photo: Family members of the dead go to Biandanshan Cemetery to store the ashes on March 23. (Credit: Heji Weekly) 3月23日下午，扁担山公墓门口，家属领取完骨灰，前来寄存。
At the Hospital: Beyond the Description of Hell
医院：地狱也无法描述那些景象
On the days of early February, from the 5th to the 8th, I went to the fever clinic of the Fourth Hospital's West Ward every day, lined up for my mother for her to get an injection, and became familiar with the people around me. We could still recognize one another even in masks. I'm fine. I didn't have any symptoms, but I dared not let my brother and sister come, as I had sent two children to their home.
2月初的那些天，从5号到8号，我每天都去第四医院西院区的发热门诊，给我母亲排队打针，跟周围的人都熟了，带着口罩还是能认出来。我还好，没有什么症状，但是也不敢让我哥哥姐姐来，两个小孩送到他们家去了。
It was lucky if we could get a shot. I needed to line up for the next shot almost immediately after one was done, as it took ten hours to be called each time. Every time I got up at three o'clock, I dared not take a sip of water, and I dared not take off my mask. I waited until three or four o'clock in the afternoon, went back home at five or six. I would hurriedly lie down to sleep after drinking and eating a little.
能打上针就不错了，一针打完了恨不得直接排下一针，每次都要排十个小时。每次是三点钟起床，一口水都不敢喝，口罩也不敢摘，排到下午三四点钟，五六点钟回来，喝口水吃口饭，歪头就睡。
Every day you can see someone die without any dignity. At most, four died within 2 hours. I had an injection on the second floor that day, I was there from six o'clock, and when it was not eight o'clock yet, I first saw two bodies carried down from the upstairs ward. They were counted as confirmed cases. Two more fell around me, and two died on the first floor in the afternoon. Those who died in the hospital without a nucleic acid test were not included in the death list of novel coronavirus pneumonia, not even suspected cases.
每天都可以看到有人死去，一点尊严都没有。最多的时候2个小时之内死了四个，那天我在二楼打针，从六点钟开始，还不到八点钟，先是从楼上的病房里抬下来两具，这算是确诊的。我身边又倒下了两个，下午在一楼又死两个。这些在医院里还没有做核酸检测就去世的人都没有算在新冠肺炎的死亡名单里，连疑似病例也不算。
The elderly woman who passed away at eight in the morning, was in her early seventies. She started queuing in the middle of the night, finished the injection, and suddenly fell on the ground after only two steps, and only 2 meters away from me. Her two sons were about the same age as me. They managed to get a sheet and their mother’s body inside. It was not until nine in the evening when the body was dragged away.
早上八点钟去世的那个婆婆，差不多七十多岁，从后半夜开始排队，打完针，没走两步路，就倒了下去，没救回来，就离我两米远。两个儿子年纪跟我差不多，搞了一张床单裹了起来，晚上九点钟才拖走。
There were not enough staff and vans, only one person responsible for maintaining order was on the scene. The van of the funeral home usually only carried one body each time, now 8 bodies were piled up in one van. That day I went outside to smoke and saw a container-like truck carrying seven or eight bodies away. That scene, hell is better than it.
人手和车子都不够，只有一个负责维持治安的人在现场。殡仪馆的车子原来是一辆车拖一具遗体，结果一车拖八个。那天我去外面抽烟，看到一个集装箱一样的货车抬走了七八个人。那个场景，地狱都比它强。
Photo: At Biandanshan Cemetery, March 24. (Credit: Heji Weekly) 3月24日上午，扁担山公墓
At Fangfang: Struggle Hard into the Middle of the Night, Only To Be Rejected
方舱：折腾到半夜，结果被拒收
We struggled very hard for an entire night on February 6. It was raining all the time. At one o'clock in the morning, people in the community told me that they had secured beds for my mother and me at Jianghan Fangcang Hospital in Wuzhan Exhibition Center. I asked people in the community if there were any medicines in Fangcang and whether they gave people shots. He said they had them. In order to complete their task, the community people told me that after we arrived at Fangcang, I should tell the staff there that my mother was not seriously ill and that she was under the age of 63. I did not agree. When we got to the place, they said that there was an age limit and they did not accept critically ill patients. We were still carrying big bags.
2月6号那天晚上折腾了一夜，还一直下着雨。凌晨一点钟，社区的人跟我说，已经给我和我母亲联系到了位于武展中心的江汉方舱医院。我问社区的人，方舱那里有没有药吃，有没有针打，他说都有。社区为了完成他们的任务，让我到了方舱之后跟工作人员说我母亲病情不重，年龄也不到六十三岁，我没同意。到了地方，说是有年龄限制，重症患者也不收，我们还拎着大包小包。
I drove the car, my mother’s and my case were both confirmed. She was old and also blind. Her symptoms were relatively serious. I tried to check her in until three o'clock in the morning, but there was no way. I had to drive her to the fever clinic of the Fourth Hospital to give her an injection. The doctor told me that my mother might leave us at any time. I waited another day that day and got home at eight o'clock in the morning. We also lived with my dad and my wife without isolation. My father had been coughing and my wife also had some symptoms. Both my parents were blind and needed care. With so many people to take care of, there is no way for me to go away.
我开着车，我跟我母亲都确诊了，她年纪大了，还是盲人，症状比较重，弄到凌晨三点钟，没办法，我又开车去第四医院的发热门诊给她打针。医生跟我说了，我母亲这个情况，随时有可能离开我们，今天又等了一天，搞到早上八点钟才回家。我们还跟我爸和我老婆住在一块，没有隔离。我父亲一直在咳嗽，我老婆也有点症状。父母都是盲人，需要人照顾，这么多人，没办法，走不了。
I should have been infected when I accompanied my mother to the hospital to get the injection, but my symptoms were not serious. I could go to the Fangcang Hospital or the quarantine center, or I could go to another place to quarantine myself. The key was that my mother needed care. On January 28, my mother began to have a fever. On February 1, she went to the community hospital for a CT. At that time, the doctor said that it was okay. It might be a viral flu. I asked them if they could give an injection to her. The community doctor said that she didn’t need an injection and just needed to wait at home. She took medicine for two days and it didn’t work. On the third morning, when I took my mother to the community hospital, they asked us to go to the hospital clinic.
我应该就是陪我母亲去打针的时候感染上的，但是我的症状不重，方舱医院可以去，隔离点也行，或者我去另一个地方自行隔离，关键是我母亲需要照顾。1月28号，我母亲开始发烧，2月1号，去社区医院做了CT。当时医生说还好，可能是病毒性感冒，我问他们能不能打针，社区医生说不需要打针，回家等着就行，结果吃了两天药，根本没效果，第三天早上我带我母亲去社区医院，他们就让我们去医院门诊。
I can't remember the day when my case was confirmed. After I got the diagnosis, I immediately told the community and the people managing the building. At that time, our community was label as "Epidemic Free Unit", and I told the building management, let everyone pay attention(that my case was confirmed). This was what I could do, but until now, the "Epidemic Free Unit" label is still attached to our unit gate, and no one came to do disinfection. The neighborhood committee put two benches at their door to prevent people from entering.
我确诊的时间记不清是哪天了，拿到确诊书之后，我第一时间跟社区和物业的人说了情况。当时我们的小区还贴着“无疫情门洞”的字样，我跟楼管说，让大家注意，这是我能做的，但是一直到现在，那个“无疫情门洞”还贴着呢，也没有人上门消毒。居委会在他们门口放了两个板凳，不让人进。
The quarantine point was at a small hotel nearby. I couldn't go because my mother needed to go to the hospital and needed someone to take care of it. On February 9, my mother was finally admitted to the hospital, and I also went to the East and West Lake Fangcang. At 11 am on February 17, the mother died.
隔离点是一个附近的小酒店，我去不了，因为我母亲需要到医院去，需要人照顾。2月9号，终于把我母亲安排进了医院，我也去了东西湖方舱。2月17日上午十一点，母亲医治无效去世。
The experience of another deceased's family
附：另一位死者家属的经历
I started to line up at 11 am on Mar 23, and at 4 pm, I finally completed all the procedures and paid all the fees in one lump sum, totaling more than 90,000 yuan($12,719). My father died on February 29. I haven't received my father's ashes yet, and I plan to bury him early next month.
我从23号上午十一点开始排队，到下午四点，终于办完了所有手续，一次性缴齐了所有费用，共计九万余元。父亲于2月29日去世。我还没有领取父亲的骨灰，计划下个月初下葬。
On February 8th, his father developed symptoms of fatigue, and after moving to a quarantine hotel, he began to have a fever. At that time, I took my father to the outpatient clinic of Tongji Hospital and took a CT scan to confirm the infection. However, the hospital had no beds and we could only return to the hotel to wait. On February 18th, Tongji Hospital's Guanggu Wade finally had beds available, but after two days of my father’s admission, I received a call saying that he had been transferred to the ICU ward.
2月8号，父亲出现乏力的症状，搬到隔离酒店之后，开始发烧。当时我带着父亲去同济医院门诊，拍了CT，确诊感染，但医院没有床位，只能回酒店继续等待。2月18号，同济医院光谷院区终于腾出了床位，但是住进去两天之后，就接到电话说转到了ICU病房。
In the early morning of February 29, I received a call from the hospital, and my father died. I had no way to take a last look at my father. When I arrived at the hospital, the body had already been cremated in the funeral home. No relics, I called the head nurse, but no one answered. The people in the hospital said that they could look for it. Later, they found his mobile phone, ID card, other cards, wallet, and other items. The keys at home were not found. The hospital asked us to go downstairs in the intensive care unit. We couldn’t go upstairs. They sent things down.
2月29号凌晨，我接到了医院的电话，父亲去世了。无法见到最后一面，到医院的时候，遗体已经在殡仪馆火化。没有遗物，我打电话给护士长，但无人接听。医院的人说去找，后来又找到了手机、身份证和卡包等物品，家里的钥匙没找到。医院让我们到重症监护室楼下，不能上楼，他们把东西送下来。
My father died. But they didn’t tell us anything, I don’t know the exact time, nor did they tell me the cause of his death. Whether it was because of poor lungs or other reasons is unclear. He had a heart surgery at the end of last year. I was not sure whether it might be caused by heart failure.
人走了，但什么都没介绍，具体时间不知道，原因也没跟我说。到底是因为肺不好，还是别的原因，都不清楚。去年年底刚做了心脏手术，我是怕是不是心衰引起的。
Source (translated into English by Jennifer Zeng) 转载自：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0-cVgp2qE5Bpl5D4kt5aQQ
3/26/2020
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