Man who lived in Milwaukee now living in China describes life amid coronavirus outbreak

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A man who spent 25 years of his life in Milwaukee, who now lives in China, is describing what life is like amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

"Yesterday they still had another over 3,000 new cases reported in China, so that's created very substantial, in my opinion, overreaction by the Chinese government where they basically lock down many areas," said Tom Gehl. 

Gehl said he is building a hotel in the town of Dali. 

"Which is probably like if the outbreak was in Phoenix and they closed Cedarburg," said Gehl. 

"My village I’m in where I’m building the hotel, they actually put truck loads of rock and dirt at the road coming into town to block the road, so no one’s allowed, any non-residents allowed in the town." 

Gehl said roads that are normally busy are now empty. 

"My friends in Beijing say it’s like a ghost town. You know you’re not banned from going out to the mall, but all the Chinese people know they’re not supposed to stay, they basically stay at home, don’t go to events, shop as little as possible," Gehl said. 

Gehl says everyone is wearing face masks. 

"Everyone is asked to wear masks if you're in public," he said, "Fortunately, we're in a smaller village akin to Cedarburg that still has their public market open." 

He says it may be some time before life gets back to normal. 

"Some experts predict that it may peak and may start to slow the infectability rate as early as next week, others say it will be a month, most people are kind of predicting now that China will be slow until most of February."