COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the U.S. continues to see coronavirus cases explode in numbers, Wuhan, China, where this outbreak began, is now seeing things start to calm down.

Now, one Ohioan who escaped the outbreak in Wuhan to return back to central Ohio, finds the virus at his doorstep once again. 

  • He says there are stark differences to how Americans are handling things
  • Praises DeWine and Dr. Acton, but says Ohioans themselves need to follow suit
  • Says denial from people about the seriousness of this situation needs to end

John McGory offers a really unique perspective because he watched everything develop with the coronavirus in the epicenter — Wuhan.  He says there are some stark differences to how Americans are handling things and we need to be better. 

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Spectrum News 1 Anchor Lindsay Oliver followed the journey of John McGory for two months now — from when he was stuck in Wuhan, to Skyping with him while he was in quarantine, and finally getting to meet him in person when he returned to Columbus.

Now he finds himself quarantined once again. 

“You can be good for 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day, but the one 10-minute stop at the gas station or the post office, you touch something and next thing you know you come down with it. So really, it takes an all-day effort to stay safe and that’s not easy," said McGory,

Over the past three months since this coronavirus outbreak began, McGory has avoided getting infected.  And he says we should really be looking at how the people of Wuhan reacted when the city shut down. 

“There was nobody on the streets, I mean nobody. And this was a city of 11 million people. So it’s 10 times bigger than Columbus,” he said. “Everything you do and everywhere you go, you have to be vigilant about it. So my friends in Wuhan, a number of people that I know, they didn’t go outside for six or seven weeks."

And while he's praising Governor DeWine and Dr. Acton for their quick action, McGory says Ohioans themselves need to follow suit. 

"You look on the streets, people are still driving, it doesn’t really look like their lives have been impacted very much," he said.

While we continue to hear the warnings and watch things shut down, McGory says the persisting denial from people about the seriousness of this situation needs to end. 

“If you say it’s not going to happen to me because I’m special in some way, I think you’re in some sort of state of delusion. Everybody’s at risk and all ages,” McGory said.

McGory’s biggest piece of advice is of course, just stay home. He also really recommends that people take things day by day and they shouldn’t worry about the "what ifs" for the future.