Fighting with COVID-19

In the early spring of 2020, the city of Wuhan, China, experienced an unexpected outbreak of a novel coronavirus infection which led to hundreds of thousands of illnesses and is now called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Wuhan is a city with a population of 10 million, and the disease rapidly spread, taking thousands of lives. Scientists quickly identified the virus, and the Chinese government made a prompt decision to quarantine the whole city. In the meantime, thousands of medical professionals traveled to Wuhan to save lives.

This painting illustrates people’s fear and anxiety regarding the virus. There were many infected patients, which resulted in numerous deaths. When we created this painting, it was reported that bats were considered the intermediate hosts of the new coronavirus. However, this relationship exists naturally in the world. If humans do not buy, sell, and eat wild animals, the new coronavirus may not erupt on a large scale in humans. Bats themselves are innocent and need to be protected. The mask represents the innocence of bats, and masks are also an important measure to block the interpersonal transmission of the new coronavirus. The mountain formation behind the bat is a corner of the new coronavirus that has not yet emerged, representing that the virus has not yet been fully controlled. Our work still has a long way to go. The white lung represents the viral infection and lung injury. Large syringes and RNA represent the efforts of medical personnel and scientists to defeat the virus. They can defeat the virus at the genetic level, potentially through developing related vaccines. It also represents the hope for the future. At the lower part of the paint we also drew inspiration from the piece “Guernica,” created by Pablo Picasso, to capture the terror of the people during the pandemic. It is important that the whole world unite to fight this terrifying viral infection.