Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Any reports from the wild on what's actually happening and what it's like to be there now?
I've been in Wuhan (in particular, a business trip for almost a month), although not in about the last five years. Also, I know of one person who regularly posts here on FT and has ties to the city (relatives, so he probably visits more-or-less annually). [Best wishes to the extended family in a difficult time.]
Wuhan is a major city for industry, so it would normally get a fair number of international business travelers. In addition, I learned this week that there was a USA Consulate in Wuhan, although at least in the past, USA visa applicants were required to report to Beijing or Shanghai for interviews.
I can't speak for it directly (and we might want to fold this into the other China-thread on the virus?), but my partner's aunt is currently in the hospital with it, in Beijing, so she has some knowledge of how things are. Most I know is that the numbers of cases is VASTLY understated, to the point where people are being held in hallways because the hospitals are too full (this not in Beijing, but from what she's being told about the situation).
Among people there's VAST differences in opinion of what's going on - from the pro-CCP "everything is fine don't worry everything under control media is overreacting to what's happening" to "this is all the CCP's fault and things are much, much worse than what they say". Hard to say which side is accurate, but I do believe that the case number is much higher than indicated.
I can ask for more info if there's a specific question.