Comic relief and cat videos help expats cope

Satire

Posts from one blog have also been shared several times in group chats, providing comic relief to many foreign readers staying within the confines of their homes. The Escaped Lunatic－the name of the blog and author, by which readers all know him－is run by Brent Wen Zhilong from the United States. Even before the outbreak happened, Wen had been entertaining his readers with his mostly animated and occasionally satirical blog posts about his life in China for a few years.

Wen, who prefers to go by his Chinese name, has been fascinated with China all of his life, and eventually moved to China permanently in 2009 for a job doing outsourcing and website content management and creation services for the financial industry. In his spare time, Wen blogs about his life in the outskirts of Dongguan in Guangdong province, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

One post which Wen wrote and has been receiving lots of attention from readers is titled A Cat's Guide to the Coronavirus Outbreak. Adopting the voice of his pet cat Stripy, Wen wrote a bilingual post in English and Mandarin on some issues related to domesticated pets and the novel coronavirus.

"One particularly bad aspect of Covid-19 is the unfortunate spread of incorrect information," said Wen in an interview over WeChat. "I was telling 'Stripy Emperor' about people abandoning pets (and doing worse things to pets) because they believed rumors that falsely claimed pets could carry the virus," he continued jokingly. Thus, Wen was inspired to write a post explaining that cats and dogs could not spread the virus.

Another reason why Wen felt the need to write such a blog post was because of the rise of the irrational fear that people started to have toward pets due to the outbreak. He experienced it firsthand when he tried to bring his other pet cat Pandora to the vet for her spaying appointment.

"The Didi driver tried to make us put her in the trunk of his car," he said. "I refused and managed to grab a passing taxi."

When asked what advice he would give people to cope during this difficult time, Wen provided this tongue-in-cheek response.

"Keep informed, but don't spend all day reading every scrap of information on the subject," he said. "The virus causes enough inconvenience, but I'm not going to let it be in charge of every moment of my life.

"Most of all, try to keep your sense of humor. You've got access to a million hilarious cat videos in the palm of your hand," Wen said. "Take a break and watch something funny. Laughter is good for you. Trust me on this. I'm a professional lunatic."

As for Hamons, she said that it is up to individuals to do what is best for themselves.

"If it helps to go home, then go home," Hamons said. "If it helps to stay and use this time productively, then do that. You know yourself and what you need for your own health."