From China:
Former NC State guard Allerik Freeman arrived in China in early January, after his contract with a team in Turkey was bought out. That was just as the coronavirus was starting to spread. He elected to stay in China for the past 10 weeks despite -- as the only American basketball player remaining in the country -- practicing twice a day with his teammates.
"At first it was because my visa was taking so long; it's normally a two-week process," Freeman told ESPN. "Because of the virus and the Chinese new year it ended up taking much longer, until around mid-February. By that time, I thought it would be counterproductive to leave and go play in another league and risk the same exact thing happening once the virus spread. My only regret is that I decided to send my fiancée and 5-year-old daughter son back to the U.S. Sometimes I wish I kept them here with me because it seems it's getting worse in America than it is here.
"It seems there's a panic in America. Not here. People stayed home and just didn't interact with each other. Now life is back to normal, from what it seems. People are walking around. The streets are flooded. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Most restaurants and businesses are open. If that's any indication, it seems it's getting as close to back to normal as possible. People are still wearing marks and getting their temperature checked. I get my temperature checked every day, sometimes twice a day, at my hotel, restaurants, grocery stores, at the security check entering the gym. I don't know what happens to people who have a fever. I guess not let them in? I wonder about that sometimes."