Interview with expat teacher: Action, communication key to fight virus

Countries should stop blaming each other and should cooperate and share information to fight against COVID-19, a US teacher said.

James Ryan Nolton has lived in China for more than three years.

This Spring Festival, he came to Beijing to visit friends. He shot a series of videos to show his life in Beijing during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The worldwide epidemic situation is more serious than before. Based on his research, Nolton said countries can learn two important things to fight against the coronavirus. First, act as quickly as possible: "The quicker a country acts, the better it is by far."

Second, communicate. "Countries can share information and communicate experience to battle the virus," he said.

Nolton said some news sometimes made him upset.

Some politicians and people outside China associated the novel coronavirus with Wuhan and China. The stigma around the disease fuels racism and discrimination against Asian people.

"I believe that all people are so advanced now and no matter anyone's skin color, country of origin or religion, those should not be boundaries among people," Nolton said.

Since China has almost controlled the situation, it has begun to help others. China has provided aid to 89 countries and four international organizations to help them fight against the pandemic.

However, some Western media still blamed China for the outbreak.

Nolton, who has heard these comments before, said that blaming will not help control the pandemic.

While doing research to learn more about the virus, he emphasized, "I am not an expert in this field. I just get basic information about it."

He added, "People who make rumors are not scientists. They don't know much about the virus so they have no scientific evidence to blame."

Many people abroad still don't wear face masks, which has really bothered Nolton for a while. Many times, he has suggested that his family and friends should wear face masks, and they finally listened.

Nolton also advised friends abroad to wash their hands, use alcohol-based sanitizers and maintain social distancing.

Repoter: Jiang Lu

Video editor: Gao Wenxuan