Thousands Post to COVID Whistleblowers Social Media After his Death

There were thousands of messages left on the social media account of COVID-19 whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang in honor of the anniversary of the day he shared information with colleagues about possible pneumonia-causing virus cases in Wuhan.

On Jan. 31, Li, an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan where the SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreak was first discovered, posted a post on his Weibo social media account that showed potential coronavirus cases were confirmed there, on Dec. 30, 2019.

In early January, the police reprimanded Li for sharing information about “SARS cases” through a WeChat group.

His death occurred on Feb. 7, 2020, after being infected with the COVID-19 virus on Jan. 12.

In the immediate aftermath of Li’s death, there was an outpouring of grief on social media. At the same time, authorities were under fire for a perceived lack of transparency and for implementing a hardline stance towards whistleblowers like Li.

China’s response to the pandemic has grown in confidence since then, but people continue to post about Li online, especially on certain anniversaries as they did on Thursday.

A user by the name of Tdby wrote: “Happy new year Dr. Li, we will remember you forever.”.

In the comments section of one of Li’s posts on Weibo social media, China’s equivalent of Twitter, others posted candle emojis, brief messages of thanks, and exclamations of how fast two years have gone by. Many of his letters were written as if he were speaking to them from beyond the grave.

Prof. Fei Kecheng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said that Li’s micro blog has become a place where people express their feelings they would be uncomfortable expressing elsewhere.

This type of anonymity is necessary for any society, but it is especially important in China today, according to the communication researcher.

As of Dec. 28, there were 101,683 confirmed cases in Mainland China, with 4,636 deaths.

Source: Thai PBS