Wu Lien Teh was born in 1879. At the age of 17, he went to England to study medicine at the University of Cambridge. In 1907 Dr. Wu accepted an invitation from the Qing government to work for an army medical college in Tianjin.

In October 1910, an unknown illness appeared in the city of Manzhouli, on the Russian and Chinese border. The disease swiftly spread along the rail lines in Manchuria and reached the cities of Harbin and Changchun, killing 99.9% of its victims in just a few short weeks. As many of the railways were under the control of Russia and Japan, it became an international incident. The Japanese government offered to send experts to manage the growing disease, but the Qing government worried that aid from Japan would only serve to further Japanese ambitions in this area. Therefore, the government turned to Wu, requesting he travel from Tianjin to Harbin and investigate.

When Dr. Wu arrived in Harbin on Christmas Eve, 1910, he carried only a few medical instruments and had only one assistant. One of Wu’s first acts was to order an autopsy（验尸）on a recent victim. There had been a long-standing taboo（禁忌）in China against such examinations. Wu insisted and found evidence of Yersinia Pestis（鼠疫杆菌）. He then set up isolation area and ordered lockdown to stop victims from traveling and spreading the disease. He also had teams check households for possible cases, and even managed to convince Russian and Japanese governments to completely close the railways in the early weeks of 1911. Dr. Wu even requested the local government to burn the bodies of victims. Over 3000 bodies were burned on Chinese New Year, January 30, 1911. Thanks to Dr. Wu’s efforts, the number of victims began to decrease, and by March 1, 1911, the disease was fully contained.

The plague（传染病）lasted nearly four months, affected five provinces and six major cities, and caused over 60,000 deaths. It is clear that without the actions taken by Dr. Wu it could have been much worse. Had the plague gone unchecked, allowing holiday rail passengers to spread to the rest of China, it could have meant a huge loss of life and a global health crisis. For a time, Dr. Wu was the most famous Chinese plague fighter in the world.

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.

In 1849, after graduation from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon, but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.

Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital, she also set up the first medical school for women.

I am a resident physician working at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse, New York. My first encounter with a Covid-19 positive patient is something I will never forget. she passed away due to severe respiratory（呼吸的）failure, despite maximal medical supportive therapy. When I learned this, I went from being anxious to scared and then eventually numb. I believe my anxiety came from three causes： The clinical unpredictability or the disease, its high transmissibility and, more importantly, not being able to ease my patient's distress

Ever since then, every time I have entered a patient room with a potential Covid-19 infection I have felt scared—scared that I will infect other patients, my colleagues or my loved ones. Health care providers forget the emotional cost the job can take. If you meet any of us in the hallway, you may forget for a moment that we are in an ongoing pandemic. We walk into work, smiling, calm and composed.

This act of bravery comes at a deep personal cost. The accumulating emotions chip away little parts of you without your even knowing, leading to suppressed disturbance and eventually—for some—exhaustion. We do not show our vulnerabilities（脆弱）to the world, as we believe that doing so would cause more panic to those on the outside

It is completely justified to be overwhelmed. But we know that panic and chaos can never side with you when you are managing a dying patient, or a pandemic for that matter. lf we take one day at a time, calmly focus on our role in this fight, then we might be able to see the light at the end of this tunnel, and probably soon. I am a soldier in this battle, I am fighting my piece, and I ask you to fight yours. Breathe and keep fighting.