All language subtitles for In.the.Same.Breath.2021.WEBRip.x264

This was Wuhan in the
first few moments of 2020,

celebrating the New Year
like any other city.

On the morning of January 1st,

this speech by China's
president was broadcast

all across the country.

Later that afternoon,

another message went
out on state media.

This message faded
into the background

when the whole country
was celebrating.

It barely registered with
people, including me.

I've lived in the
U.S. for nine years,

and each year in January,
I would return to my home

in China to celebrate
the Chinese New Year

with my family.

This year, I traveled
with my two-year-old son.

This was the last
moment I can remember

when life still felt normal.

In the weeks and
months that followed,

as the world plunged
into chaos and confusion,

this image returned to my mind,

and the news bulletin

from that same day
hung in my memory.

When I look at these people now,

unaware of what was
spreading between them,

I feel like we are all still
standing there in that moment.

On January 23rd, I
left my son in China

so he could spend the
holiday with my mom,

and I flew back to the
U.S. for a work trip.

As soon as I landed in the U.S.,

the Chinese government announced

it was locking down Wuhan.

All 11 million people living
in Wuhan were sealed off

from the outside world,

and other cities all around
the country were starting

to barricade themselves

to stop the virus
from reaching them.

Not knowing whether
my family was safe

in our hometown 200
miles east of Wuhan,

I scrolled through the news,

trying to find more information.

On the evening of
Wuhan's lockdown,

this was broadcast on
national and local TV.

While this was being
broadcast on TV,

this is what was
on social media.

People were dying
on the streets.

Posts like these were
deleted from social media

by government censors.

Simply filming on the
street with a cell phone

became sensitive.

Finally, a family member
who worked in the hospital

told me that our town had
several confirmed cases,

but the government was
ordering hospital staff

to keep it a secret.

I knew we had to get our
son out of the country.

My husband bought the
first available ticket

to pick him up.

I spent hours reading
social media posts,

and I discovered
a forum for people

who had tested positive
but couldn't get treatment

because hospitals
were overwhelmed.

Thousands of people were
uploading their names,

ID pictures, phone
numbers, and their X-rays

in hopes of getting
some access to care.

Seeing these patients
brought back memories

of a moment from when
I was 11 years old.

My father was in the
hospital getting treatment

for heart disease
and was surrounded

by people who were dying.

My mom had to work nonstop
to afford the medical bills,

so I stayed at the hospital
taking care of my dad.

These lines of people waiting
for care in Wuhan reminded me

of the lines I stood in
to fill out paperwork

or get medication for my father.

I was small, even
for an 11-year-old,

and people would
often push past me,

and the staff would ignore me.

Not long after
that, my father died

at 33 years old.

The grief and
powerlessness I felt

at losing him like that,

wondering if he could
have lived longer

had he gotten better care,

it shaped me into who I am

and later drove me to
make documentaries.

I archived as many
posts as I could,

and I tried reaching out
to a few major newspapers

in the U.S. with the
hope that news coverage

could somehow help these people.

None of the
newspapers I contacted

would pursue this story.

I decided to try and
contact local camerapeople

in Wuhan to start
collecting people's stories.

What they sent was
my first real glimpse

of what life in Wuhan looked
like under quarantine.

Every movement required
approval from party officials.

Only people who got a
special letter of permission

from the government could
film at the hospitals,

and a few of them
agreed to film for me,

each for different reasons.

This was some of
the first footage

they filmed inside the hospital.

Oh.

Oh.

When I noticed the camerapeople

were turning off their cameras

whenever they saw
something negative,

I suggested that they
put multiple cameras

in different places
around the hospital

and keep filming all day long.

This shot captured the
cameraperson sitting down

to take a break.

I also told them to film nonstop

with their handheld cameras,

and they took the
instructions very literally.

This shot of a patient's
foot lasted for five minutes.

But then someone caught the
cameraperson's attention.

This detail surprised me.

The father kept saying that
he and his son were infected

in December.

This would have been a month

before the government
announced the outbreak.

I wanted to interview doctors
and nurses about this,

but I was told that every
interview request had

to be approved by
the government.

In one moment captured by a
camera placed in the lobby,

the media was staging interviews

with doctors and nurses.

Everywhere our
cameraperson filmed,

there were media crews
working for the state

and local propaganda department.

I learned that the government
sent hundreds of journalists

to report on the
situation in Wuhan.

On TV, the propaganda department

laid out its strategy for
covering the outbreak.

Positive is a word that I
heard over and over on TV.

Even some of our camerapeople
agreed that it was important

to portray the
situation positively,

and one of them explained why.

Many doctors would only
tell positive stories.

Just a few agreed to speak
with me but only anonymously.

Unable to get doctors

from state-owned
hospitals to speak,

I searched and found
private clinic owners.

Chen and her husband,
Liu, run a small clinic

near Huanan Seafood
Market, the wet market

where the first COVID-19
cases were discovered.

All of these patients
came in within four days

of each other in December.

Some of them later would
test positive for COVID.

On December 26th, Doctor Liu
developed a fever himself.

When his condition worsened,

he tried to get
treatment at a hospital.

Between January 1st
and January 2nd,

4 different hospitals
refused to treat Liu,

and none of them offered a
reason that made any sense.

I gathered every source
of information I could

on the early days
of the outbreak

to see if I could
find an explanation.

This article published
by scientists from Wuhan

in an international
medical journal said

the first known case of
unexplained pneumonia

was recorded on December 1st.

On December 26th, a
private lab tested samples

from patients.

One of the lab technicians
posted their discoveries

about the virus on his blog.

They described the virus
as a subtype of SARS.

They also shared their findings

with government health
officials in Wuhan.

Then on December 30th,
in a private group chat,

a few doctors in Wuhan
warned friends and family

about this new SARS-like virus.

One of the doctors
was named Li Wenliang,

who would later die after
being infected by a patient.

Screenshots of these
chats were circulated

on social media,
and on January 1st,

those 8 doctors
ended up on the news.

On the same day that the
eight doctors were punished,

Liu visited four
of the hospitals

where the punished
doctors had been working.

He was turned away
from all of them.

Many of the doctors at these
hospitals must have known

this new virus was
spreading between people,

but they were afraid to say
so for fear of punishment

from the government.

For three weeks
following the punishment

of those eight doctors,

the government continuously
reassured the public

that the virus was contained
and wasn't spreading

between people.

During this time as
health-care workers

and patients were spreading
the virus in hospitals,

the annual People's Congress
in Hubei Province was held

in Wuhan.

Every province holds
one of these meetings

at the beginning of each year.

It's a chance for
party officials

to make big speeches
and set the agenda

for the coming year.

It would not have
been a good time

to announce the
spread of a new virus.

The Congress lasted
for two weeks,

and during that time,
the government announced

each day that there were
no new coronavirus cases.

On January 20th,

2 days after the Congress ended,

the government announced
for the first time

that the virus could
spread between people.

Three days later, the
city was locked down.

Hospitals and emergency hotlines

immediately were overwhelmed.

The footage the
camerapeople sent me

revealed so many families
facing this exact situation.

A loved one was near death,

but no hospital
would admit them.

This shot of medics walking
to pick up a patient

lasted for 15 minutes.

The roads and entrances
to many neighborhoods

had been blocked
during the lockdown.

It often took the
medics a long time

to reach a patient.

As I watched them
pass by each building,

I thought of the people who
posted their chest X-rays

on the social media forum.

I wondered how many of them
could have been sitting

by their apartment windows

watching the medics come closer,

only to pass their window

and disappear around the corner.

I thought the government
would have wanted

to conceal moments like
this from the public,

but instead, outbreak stories

were broadcast nonstop on TV.

After watching hundreds

of these state media
programs myself,

I saw a pattern of story
types that were being approved

by the propaganda department...

Stories that inspired
confidence and hope.

One topic in particular kept
showing up in the broadcasts.

These stories were
nationally televised

and watched by millions.

When I lived in China,
I remember feeling moved

watching these kinds
of state TV broadcasts

about regular people
overcoming adversity,

fighting for each other.

But I don't remember
ever questioning

where the adversity came
from in the first place

or why the government's
propaganda department

was showing it to me.

But now it's clear that
when the government

is telling us where to look,

they're also telling
us where not to look.

I called the people on
the social media forum

who had posted their X-rays
and phone numbers online.

Each person I spoke to
described unbearable trauma

and loss.

Ding is a taxi driver.

His mother died in
a hospital lobby

after waiting days for a bed.

The nurse told him not
to cry or wipe his tears

because it would increase
his own risk of infection.

Yawen is a college student

whose entire family
was infected.

Her father and grandfather
died one day apart.

Zhou Li and her
husband were infected

and went to sleep on the
floor of a hospital lobby

to protect their 13-year-old
son from infection.

Li Qiong's husband
and daughter are both.

U.S. citizens.

They traveled to Wuhan for the
Chinese New Year celebrations.

When the lockdown started,

her husband and daughter
managed to board a flight

back to the U.S., but
Li Qiong stayed in Wuhan

to care for her father,
who was infected.

When I first learned
Li Qiong's story,

it reminded me of when I had
to get my son out of China.

Once my son was home,
I was full of anxiety

and guilt about being
separate from my mother.

I worried about who
would take care of her

if she got sick.

Li Qiong was living
my worst fear.

Wicinski's wife
Li Qiong's father,

who's been ill with the
virus, was waiting for weeks

to get a hospital bed.

He says hospital beds
are hard to find.

His wife and her dad are
sleeping in the parking lot

just to be first in line.

Wicinski says with
the hospitals full,

they were left to
care for him alone.

Frank Wicinski and his
three-year-old daughter...

Just as I reached out
to reporters in the U.S.

to find help, Li
Qiong's husband, Frank,

went to the media,
hoping that the exposure

could somehow help Li
Qiong and her father.

And then now she...

But Frank's interviews
had a different impact

that neither of them expected.

Now Frank can't stop coughing,

so he takes a swig from his
daughter's water bottle,

hands it back, and she continues

to drink from it, uh-oh.

This moment of him
coughing went viral.

Looking through the
thousands of comments

on Frank's interview,
I wondered,

why did so many people
believe that Frank was part

of some conspiracy?

And what convinced them that
the virus wasn't a threat?

Are there worries about
a pandemic at this point?

No, not at all, and we're... we
have it totally under control.

We think we have it
very well under control.

The risk to Americans is low.

By April, you know, in theory,

when it gets a little warmer,
it miraculously goes away.

Right now don't worry about it.

Be more concerned
about influenza.

The immediate risk

to the general American
public remains low.

- This is a flu.
- This is like a flu.

Americans, independent of
where they live in this nation,

are at low risk.

The American public needs to
go on with their normal lives.

And tonight with the latest
on the coronavirus outbreak,

the first confirmed
case in New York City.

Governor Cuomo is reminding
New Yorkers the risk

of getting coronavirus
remains low.

For the vast majority
of New Yorkers,

life is going on pretty
normally right now,

and we want to encourage that.

There's very little threat here.

This disease, even if
you were to get it,

basically acts like
a common cold or flu.

Like most people in the U.S.,

I trusted that the
risk here was low

and lived my life normally.

My mom saw the news that the
virus had reached New York.

She called and told us
to wear masks outside.

She sent me a video
of a friend of hers

being caught without
a mask in public.

He was detained the next day.

The video made me angry
at the Chinese government

for overreacting.

I told my mom she
was being paranoid,

and I translated
and sent her videos

from American experts.

Right now in the United States,

people should not be
walking around with masks.

You're sure of it?

'Cause people are listening
really closely to this.

Right now people should
not be... there's no reason

to be walking
around with a mask.

Then in an instant,
everything changed.

Confirmed cases in New
York City is now 36.

Now 53, 154, 183,

329, 814,

3,615,

5,151.

We're going to put out
an executive order today.

100% of the workforce
must stay home.

Just like in Wuhan,
America's largest city went

from hearing that the
virus didn't pose a threat

to finding itself
under lockdown.

I watched the news
each day in disbelief.

How did I not see it coming

even though there had
been so many warning signs

since I first came back
to the U.S. from China?

On January 23rd, the
day of Wuhan's lockdown,

when I arrived at customs,

there was no temperature check,

nobody asking where
I had come from

or if I was feeling sick.

Then a week after
coming back from China,

my son Jamie developed a fever.

Our first thought was that
he might have been infected.

When we took him to the ER,

the doctors said he
couldn't get tested

and told us not to worry.

They said the virus wasn't
spreading in the U.S.

and they sent us home.

I felt surprised that
he couldn't get tested,

even though he'd just come
from China and had symptoms,

but I trusted the doctors.

They were the experts,

and they were following
the CDC's guidelines.

We self-quarantined
just to be safe,

and after a week, Jamie
was back to normal.

Just a few weeks later
when I looked out my window

in New Jersey, I started
to see reflections

of scenes from Wuhan.

By April, the nearest testing
site to my home was filling

to capacity hours
before it opened.

I realized that I had
fully bought into the idea

that America was too advanced

to suffer an outbreak
like China's,

but every time I
turned on the news,

I heard echoes of
China's outbreak

all across America.

Hospitals across the country
are bracing for a surge

in coronavirus patients...

Frontline medical workers
are facing shortages

of N95 masks...

Pictures of nurses in a
New York City hospital

wearing garbage bags...

We don't have the equipment
to tackle this problem.

Where hospitals are overwhelmed.

Hospitals are getting
close to being overwhelmed.

Our ICU is 95%
full this morning.

This is overwhelming hospitals

and first responders.

When they were
shutting down Wuhan,

I was really concerned
about the videos

that were coming up online,

so I started asking
questions in the hospital.

What are the protocols?

What are gonna be
the procedures?

How are we gonna
handle the situation,

and how are we
preparing for this?

They told me, "Yeah, yeah,
yeah, we're preparing."

There was nothing ever

provided to us as far as
information or training

until the first patient
actually came to the hospital,

and that same day,

they were trying
to train the nurses

how to don and doff the PPE,

but nothing was ever
given in writing.

It's sort of like
walking into a fire,

and you have nothing
to stop the fire,

and here you are,
raising the alarm

and trying to call for help,

and everybody's just
kind of brushing you off.

I was accused of
causing hysteria

and spreading rumors.

It sounded exactly
like the way doctors

in Wuhan were punished
for sounding the alarm.

It was a pattern
across the country.

An emergency room
physician lost his job

after publicly criticizing
the hospital's response

to the coronavirus.

A nurse has been fired for
posting a video online.

He was fired after
expressing safety concerns

to the media.

Hospitals are warning them
not to talk to the media.

Nurses in one of our floors
were wearing garbage bags

because they were denied gowns.

The moment you open your mouth,

you conceivably could
become a target,

and then they're gonna
try to take away your job.

People who were outspoken
about PPE... that happened

to another nurse, I think,
further north in Jersey.

This is what they
tried to make me wear.

This surgical mask is the
thinnest I've ever seen.

It's like toilet paper.

I had a few N95s at home.

I would take one
with me to work.

Our manager came up
to me and told me

that I had to take
off my gloves and mask

and that I wasn't
allowed to wear them.

And then I even... I
made the plea for her

to let me wear it because
I had promised my son

that I would protect myself
and him and my family

while coming in to the hospital.

And at that point in time,
my supervisor told me

that she strongly suggests
I find a different career.

There's never been, like,
a great communication

of, like, "Listen,
these are our supplies."

"This is what we have.

"This is how we have to ration
these things," you know.

The first few weeks of it,

the CDC standards were
changing almost daily,

and it was not based on
science but based on supplies.

And every day you come in,
and there'd be a new standard.

And so each day you're
trying to understand,

you know, why is
this okay today?

When the CDC

produced their new and
improved guidelines

and the CDC was saying
that we didn't need

to wear masks outside,

you know, going to public places

and that we weren't
protected by wearing them,

I knew initially...
I knew immediately

something was wrong.

I believe that the CDC
made that guideline

to provide ample supply to
the health-care workers,

but instead, they should
have stated their intentions.

And now that they've altered
their recommendations

based on supply, I feel
that not only myself

but a lot of health-care
workers are having a problem

trusting in the CDC now.

The CDC went as far as saying
that if we didn't have a mask,

just wear a scarf.

What kind of agency are you?

How can you have
any credibility?

How can you ever expect that we
will believe you or trust you?

This is the reflection
of a broken system

that was already on
the verge of death!

When I decided to speak up,

I said, "I'm gonna lose my job.

They're probably gonna
fire me the next day."

But I didn't care,
because it was so bad,

nothing mattered anymore.

I'll never forget
a patient who had,

"Do not intubate,
do not resuscitate"

orders already.

They actually allowed
the wife to come

and say her last
goodbye to her husband,

and she came out of the room...

And she just stood there,

and she looked so lost.

She was crying, so I came over,

and I said I was sorry,

and if there was anything
else I could do for her.

So she just nodded
no, and then she said,

"Thank you for
taking care of him."

And I gave her a hug.
I gave her a hug.

I probably shouldn't
have done that, but...

I felt so bad for
her because she...

You know, I was glad
she had the opportunity

to come and see him,
but she was alone,

and it was just too much.

I didn't know what to do.

I just... like, we
didn't know what to do.

We tried our best to
do whatever we could,

and it didn't make a difference
anyway for a lot of them.

At the time when I
spoke with Diana,

she had been isolating herself

from her husband and three kids.

She filmed video
diaries to show people

what health-care workers
were going through.

When I talked to health-care
workers like her,

I noticed they'd often
burst into tears at times

when they talked about
the death they witnessed

or their separation
from their families,

but also at times that
seemed unexpected to me.

I'm sorry, hold on.

It was then I realized how
vast their trauma must be

and how invisible it still
was to the rest of the world.

I just... I guess
I need a second.

Um...

Um.

All right.

I was just talking
with my neighbor today,

if I can say this, she
was... And we were talking

about how everyone is holding up

and,

and, you know, my fear...

Jesus.

I didn't know this was in me,

like, how upset I'm
getting right now.

Um.

There are nurses,
especially in the ICUs,

who are dealing
with a lot of death

and a lot of just
patients crashing.

You know, a lot of the patients,

once they're intubated,
don't necessarily make it.

And I work in the ED.

We had some patients like
this, but we didn't have them

to the degree and for the length

that those ICU nurses have, and

if.

If this is how this
is making me feel,

I don't know how those
nurses are gonna crash

once they stop and start
talking about this stuff.

More than 40,000
health-care workers

from other provinces
were sent to Wuhan

to help local hospitals.

They left their own
families for two months

and stayed in Wuhan
until a few days

before the lockdown was lifted.

When I saw them taking
off their suits,

I realized how young
many of them were.

Their lives had barely started,

and they found
themselves far from home,

fighting an unknown virus,
surrounded by chaos and death.

On the day they
prepared to leave Wuhan,

the local authorities
held celebrations

to thank them.

These events celebrated
the Communist Party

as much as they celebrated
the health-care workers.

I've seen ceremonies
like this play out

over and over after
major disasters in China.

People emerge from the
trauma of these events

with even stronger patriotic
sentiment than before.

Disasters become
propaganda tools

instead of inspiring change.

These images become
the official history

of the disaster.

It was another triumph
for the Communist Party.

The day Tao went
to the funeral home

to pick up the ashes of his son,

our cameraperson
followed him there.

It was the second time
our cameraperson tried

to go to the funeral home.

The first time he
almost was arrested.

At the time, I
couldn't understand

what was sensitive about
people collecting the ashes.

I suggested that the
cameraperson film

from inside the car.

The government
prohibited funerals

and formal ceremonies,

so many people made small
traditional death offerings

on sidewalks.

By April, the
official death toll

from COVID in Wuhan was 3,335.

Most victims'
ashes had been held

by state-run funeral
homes until then,

and when the government
announced the ashes

would be released
to family members,

it ordered that all remains
be collected and buried

within two weeks.

This was one of 16 public
cemeteries in Wuhan.

The city has 8 funeral homes,

and all of them are
run by the state.

Since the outbreak,

the government has heavily
restricted reporting

on the funeral homes.

One employee agreed to
speak to me anonymously.

All: Open California!
Open California!

Open California!
Open California!

Open California!

- Reopen Florida!
- Reopen Florida!

Reopen Florida!

All: Open Illinois!
Open Illinois!

Open Illinois! Open Illinois!

- When do we want it?
- Now!

Not a single person do I know

that has had the coronavirus,

not one, not one, and
I know a lot of people.

They're inflating the
numbers of the COVID deaths.

The CDC is actually
paying hospitals

to call deaths COVID.

I know the
propaganda's out there,

and I can't stand it.

If you really want to
know, I'm pissed off.

Say no to anybody who tells you

that the most important
thing for you to do is

to listen to your government,
give up your God-given right.

Any governor that's
given an order

for people to stay at home
or to wear face masks,

you're violating our liberty.

All: Freedom, freedom,

freedom, freedom, freedom!

As I watched the
protesters in America,

I thought about Peien.

He said that tens of
thousands died in China

because there was no
freedom of speech.

I wondered what he would think

if he could see what
was happening here.

I feel like the American
government is trying

to be more like China, which
is a communist country,

and I feel like being
free is what separates us

from other countries.

Nine years ago when
I moved to the U.S.,

it was the idea of
freedom that attracted me.

I had never seen a protest
until I came to the U.S.

The closest thing to a protest
I had ever seen in China

was six people standing
on the side of the road,

and all of them
ended up in prison.

Nobody would look
at these people

and say that they are free.

All: USA, USA!

But is this what
freedom looks like?

- USA!
- I was born here!

- You can't tell me to leave!
- You're not looking at facts!

These are facts!

- You're a fascist!
- I'm a fucking fascist!

- Right here.
- I got my mask under my balls.

You got nothing to say, do you?

I didn't think so.

I recognized the confidence
the protesters had.

I felt the same way
when my mom called

and told me to wear a mask.

I trusted the experts
I was listening to.

People should not be
walking around with masks.

There's no reason
to be walking around

with a mask.

And I recognized that
same sense of trust

in the way the protesters
repeated what they heard

from people they trusted.

You treat this like a flu.

This is a flu.
This is like a flu.

It's going to be around forever.

It's a new strain of the
flu. That's what it is.

What we have right
now is a bad case

of the flu running loose,

and we've decided to
close down the country.

Mr. President...

Mr. President, have
you seen anything

that the Wuhan
Institute of Virology

was the origin of this virus?

Yes, I have. Yes, I have.

Personally, I think it
was a man-made virus.

I would believe that
they would have done that

on purpose for
population control.

I believe it started in a lab.

Scientifically modified or
manipulated in laboratories

with patents held by Bill Gates.

This is all information
that's all out there.

You hold the patent,
you hold the vaccine,

you hold the virus, you
hold the "plandemic."

You know, these people,
they're ignorant.

This is not a political agenda.

This is something that we
have to come to and unite.

We have to be united
to fight this.

This is stupid.

When I first saw the protesters,

I had the same reaction.

It was tempting to dismiss them

as crazy or brainwashed.

But as I listened
more carefully,

I heard them expressing
the same fear

of misinformation that I had.

Our concern here is that
now it has become political.

The most important
fact is to get data

that is 100% accurate, not
politically manufactured.

Accurate information is
absolutely imperative

because we have too many people
that just follow the leader,

and the leader could lead
'em to the edge of a cliff,

and they would go, and
that's what will happen

with our country.

Don't accept blindly
what we're saying to you.

Right now the problem is people
are just blindly accepting

what the government says to 'em.

And they have to understand
that when you do that,

you unwittingly sell
your soul to tyranny.

We all think of
ourselves as capable

of separating truth
from falsehood,

but how can we make
that distinction

when misinformation
comes from the people

we are supposed to trust?

All: USA, USA, USA!

USA, USA, USA!

New concerns tonight
as more states

break coronavirus
daily case records.

As the country reopens,

former FDA commissioner
Dr. Scott Gottlieb

is sounding the alarm.

The worry is that
they're gonna tip over

into exponential growth
coming this week.

I remember thinking back

when this whole
pandemic started.

I was scared, and I just prayed.

I said, "God, please let
me see my 34th birthday."

And I think a lot of
people think like that now.

Doctors and nurses
and firefighters

and MTA workers and...

People are just...

It got to a point, people
were just dropping like flies.

The funeral's really
for the family,

and when you really get
to meet the families

and you get the narrative
about these people

who once lived like you and I...

So you get the narrative
he was a teacher,

he was a doctor, he loved music,

he loved this, he loved
that, she was a great mom,

a great grandmother.

Infections are soaring to
new highs across the country.

Saturday Florida broke
its single day record...

The last four weeks,
the United States

has seen a 42% increase
in the number of deaths.

- With a stunning number...
- A grim milestone...

Mark the latest
grim milestone...

It's the highest total of
any country in the world.

At the beginning
of the outbreak,

I thought the public would
demand greater transparency

from the government,

but several months later,

only a few critical
voices remain.

Chen Qiushi is a
human rights lawyer

and citizen journalist who
livestreamed the reports

from the ground in Wuhan
when the outbreak started.

He posted his videos on YouTube,

and they were viewed
millions of times.

Two days after he
interviewed Peien,

he disappeared.

This was the last
video he posted

before his disappearance.

Since Chen Qiushi's
disappearance,

more than a dozen activists
have been arrested

or disappeared for
documenting Wuhan's outbreak.

A Chinese citizen journalist
was arrested by police.

Li Zehua, 25, a citizen
journalist in Wuhan.

Fang Bin went missing.

Cai Wei and Chen Mei,

they have published
censored articles

on China's handling
of the Wuhan virus.

37-year-old Zhang Zhan was
found guilty on Monday.

Zhang Zhan was found guilty.

Zhang Zhan has been sentenced

to four years in prison.

Hearing news of the
arrests reminded me

of the news announcement
from January 1st.

It's hard for me to picture
how all of this might end.

But I can clearly imagine

how this could have
begun differently.

Chinese officials are warning

that a new infectious
disease identified in Wuhan

has potential to spread widely.

The CDC is working to roll
out a massive testing program.

The president is
urging all Americans

to avoid unnecessary travel.

Of course, that wasn't
how all of this began.

A year later, the New
Year's celebration

in Wuhan looks almost exactly
the same as the year before.

The whole world
seems eager to return

to a feeling of normal,

but it was circumstances
we considered normal

that created the crisis
we are living through now.

There will be an
ending to the pandemic,

but I worry that something
even more frightening

is just beginning.

The World Health Organization

has praised China's response.

I will praise China
again and again.

China mounted the most
effective containment program

in history.

The coronavirus may put
China in a stronger position.

Authoritarianism was
already on the rise

before COVID-19.

Authoritarian leaders
are using this

to push through
autocratic measures.

It started out as
a medical crisis.

It has become a test of
our form of government.

I have lived under
authoritarianism,

and I have lived in a society
that calls itself free.

In both systems, ordinary
people become casualties

of their leaders'
pursuit of power.