*

As a powerful devil, the coronavirus opened its mouth and traveled all over the world. It was invisible. As I write, it has caused more than 100 million people to become sick so far, making them struggle in pain without being able to breathe. It has killed more than 2.5 million people. It has destroyed many families without notice. It has forced many countries to lock down and prevented people from enjoying vacations. It doesn’t even allow people to talk together, close up.

My life has totally changed since the coronavirus spread into New York City. My family stayed at home for months. When the city shut down, my husband and I went to the supermarket immediately. We spent a lot of money on our food and cleaning supplies. The food we bought was mostly rice, noodles, and meat because they can be preserved for a long time. I found out one refrigerator couldn’t store all the food, so I asked my daughter to buy another freezer online. But it was too late. All of the freezers online were sold out. After a few weeks, all the food was finished, so we ordered fresh fruits and some vegetables from Fresh Direct and Costco. It was so hard to find a delivery time to receive my order from those two websites. Once I got the food from the driver, I started to wash and clean the food. I heard the coronavirus can spread by air, so I gave up taking the elevator and only walked on the stairs. If we needed to go out, we fully armed ourselves by wearing a mask, eyeglasses, plastic face shield, cap, gloves, and even a raincoat. Once I had returned from outside, I would immediately walk into the bathroom in order to take a shower.

The coronavirus pandemic has made me lose freedom. I can’t breathe air freely. I can’t enjoy my life. Sometimes, fear stalks me, and I can’t fall asleep. I don’t know when this life will end. I hope the vaccine will come out soon and we can go back into a normal life.

*
*

Bixian Lin is 54 years old and comes from Fuzhou, China. She arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and is now living in Long Island City, Queens. She loves reading books, planting flowers, and learning to sing traditional Chinese songs. At the Queens Public Library’s Elmhurst Adult Learning Center, Bixian Lin studies with writing teacher James McMenamin, and Michelle Johnston is the Library Literacy Center manager.