Nurse 'reunites' with COVID-positive parents in makeshift hospital

A nurse, who is in Shanghai as part of a Nanjing medical team helping the city fight the COVID-19 resurgence, had an unexpected family reunion with her parents at a makeshift hospital. Unexpected because both sides had told each other that they were "safe at home!"

Jia Ying, 25, a nurse from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in neighboring Jiangsu Province, came to Shanghai on April 1, her contingent being among the country's earliest medical support teams. She was assigned to work at the makeshift hospital in Lingang, the Pudong New Area.

Jia had kept this a secret from her parents in Shanghai so as not to worry them. Each time she called home, she pretended that everything was fine in Nanjing.

"I acted on details. I would check the Nanjing weather beforehand and mention it nonchalantly during our phone chats to make it more credible," Jia revealed.

She also switched from video call to voice call, afraid that her parents would find something unusual about her work environment. "They trust me probably because I have always been a good girl who takes care of myself," the nurse noted.

But she was not the only one telling the "white lies." Jia's parents in Shanghai also kept their condition a secret from the daughter until the moment of truth arrived on April 15.

On the day, Jia checked in on the family with her phone as usual. But, being a health-care worker, she sensed the fragility in her mum's voice. Under close questioning, the mother admitted that her polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test had returned positive and she was transferred to the Lingang hospital on April 11.

As a matter of fact, the father joined her in quarantine on April 15.

"I couldn't hold back my tears at that moment. They lied to spare me trouble, exactly like what I did to them," Jia said. "I kept asking them where they were (in the makeshift hospital), and told them not to worry because I was working there, too."

Nurse and patients, daughter and parents, finally reunited in the same hospital.

Jia quickly found her parents' beds. The makeshift hospital in Lingang has a total of 13,000 beds. The Jiangsu medical team is in charge of 7,000 beds, with the rest managed by the Zhejiang Province medical team. That was why they never met before.

The next day, Jia finally saw her parents. The moment they met, the family had a good cry. "I told them not to fear. I'm with them," Jia said.

The mother had symptoms of severe vomiting and aggravated abdominal pain. She was soon transferred to Huashan Hospital for further treatment, and currently she is in stable condition.

"I've been busy at work all the time. Now I can have time to spend with them, in such a special way," Jia stated. "I hope Shanghai will get better soon, and I'll come back and go for a walk."