Canadian Blogger Stuck In Wuhan Says She Will Not Leave Without Her Cat

Feb 24, 2020 by apost team

In a video, 21-year-old Canadian blogger Kristina Shramko described how her life has been in Hanyang, Wuhan, China since the lockdown due to Coronavirus.

She has been staying in her loft since emergency charter flights did not let her take her cat, Kitya, on-board back to Canada. In an interview with the apost.com team, Shramko gave insight into what it's like in Wuhan.

Kristina Shramko tells audiences in her vlog that she initially wasn't concerned when she heard about the coronavirus outbreak. Shramko has been staying with her cat, Kitya, in the Wuhan "ghost town" since her boyfriend left for another province in China on a business trip.

Shramko said that she "initially came to Wuhan for travel and I ended up meeting my now boyfriend so we decided to live together in Wuhan."

After the deadly virus infected thousands of people in Wuhan, China, Shramko has stayed in her loft and her boyfriend has still not returned to Hanyang.

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The vlogger shrugged off the urgency around the illness and said in her video:

"First everyone says: Oh it's pneumonia, you know it's a regular thing, it will pass...people are still going to work, everybody was so fine."

However, after Wuhan went on lockdown, Shramko realized that the virus was more serious than she had initially thought. Shramko said that the government closed "all supermarkets to further prevent people from leaving their homes. The virus is slowly getting better and with the release of the new drug to fight the virus, hopefully it won’t be much longer."

Since January 23rd, the province of Hubei has been on lockdown. The deadly virus has reached other countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, and Canada among others.

Shramko said the Canadian government was locating its citizens in Wuhan and bringing them back to Canada, but Shramko won't go without her cat. She has since posted a GoFundMe to help raise money for her and Kitya. Shramko said:

"Staying for my cat when I found out that I couldn’t bring her back with me was just a no brainer, she’s been a huge part of my life and I don’t treat her as just an animal, she’s a part of my family."

When asked if she would return to Wuhan, Shramko said:

"I would definitely come back because I love Wuhan, the city is really great. I think people have the wrong impression of the city since the outbreak started from bat meat, they must think Wuhan is a rural city. Like any part of a city, there are more rural areas but Wuhan is actually super developed and the way of life is very comfortable here. For now, I would just like to go back until the city is completely coronavirus free which could be a while."

Shramko said she is busy "doing interviews almost everyday" and working on her Youtube channel. She said in the meantime during the lockdown, she watches movies and calls her boyfriend, who "is a local of Wuhan so he would not go back to Canada. He would just like to spend time with his parents as he is not only separated from me, he is separated from his parents who are also in Wuhan."

In regards to Kitya, Shramko said: 

"I’m not sure what restrictions there will be when regular flight schedules return but I’m assuming that I should be able to bring Kitya back at that time since it’s no longer considered an emergency evacuation."

What do you think about Shrmako's decision to stay with her cat in Wuhan? Would you do the same for your furry friend? Let us know your thoughts below and pass this along to others so they can let us know, too!