The Mask

The Lunar New Year’s Eve should be a highly awaited day for Chinese people. It’s more like the Christmas Eve for Americans. People can finally leave their endless work behind and have a peaceful break with their family. However, the Lunar New Year’s Eve in 2020 is a disaster for people who live in China.

The Price of mask: 2.5 USD Each

Lilly, a student from Wuhan University, is packing her baggage for the winter break. She is going to go back to Sichuan to have a new year’s dinner with her family. The medical mask on her face makes her a little breathless. Then she takes off her mask and takes out her phone to take a break. ” Severe Coronavirus appeared in central Wuhan, experts say…” Lilly reads the news that automatically appears on her screen. “What the hell is going on out there… thankfully, I’m going back home today”. The winter in Wuhan is freezing; even the breeze can make people want to make a shiver. “Why are there fewer people than usual on the street?” Lilly waves her arms in an attempt to stop a taxi. Unfortunately, she has not gotten anything for 30 minutes. Suddenly, she feels a weak vibration in her jacket’s pocket; It’s her mom. ” Lilly, are you OK?” asked Lilly’s mother. “Yeah, mom. What’s up?”. “The news said that Wuhan is going to shut down every way of transportation because of the Coronavirus. You probably can’t go home today”. Lilly is so panic about what she just heard. She opens the Safari to make sure if that news is accurate. But the truth is Wuhan is CLOSED.

The Price of mask: 5 USD Each

Lilly goes back to her apartment to drop her baggage. She rushes directly to a pharmacy because she saw a piece of information about how to avoid Coronavirus is wearing the N95 Medical Mask. However, Lilly is too late to buy those masks. What’s worse is the mask in every pharmacy in the city is out of stock. However, only PHARMACY is out of stock.

The Price of mask: 25 USD Each

People who know that the mask is going to short sale just bought a massive amount of masks. What they are going to do is resell them at a higher price. Lilly quickly found a guy who is doing this; because he is standing right next to the pharmacy and yelling: “N95 Mask over here!! Only 25 dollars each!!”. There are a lot of people stand around him, and all of them want to buy a mask even they know it’s a sky-high price. But, What else can they do? “Life is much more important than money”; Lilly knows that as well. She also goes toward him and tries to get a mask. That guy sees there are more and more people is coming for the mask, then he says, “Last 20 masks for sale today. 50 dollars each. First come, first served”.

Lilly can’t believe what she just heard. Fifty dollars for only one mask? That’s definitely a robbery. “Excuse me, man? Are u kidding me?” a man is complaining about the price, he is outraged about it. His words seem to resonate with others. More and more people are yelling at that guy, Lilly included. That man sees that the situation is terrible; he grabs his bag and wants to leave. But people seem like they don’t want to let him go — a tooth for a tooth— two men grab his arm and throw him to the ground. All of his masks in his bag spilled out. Many people flock to him and pick up those masks on the ground. Lilly finally bought a mask, and that guy lost everything.