Community is basic for epidemic prevention and control. Recently, staff members of various urban and rural communities in China have taken actions to strengthen joint prevention and control, provide timely door-to-door guidance, and strictly prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic.
In recent days, community doctors in Beijing have been on a new task – to make phone calls to people coming back from the epicenter Wuhan, learn about their information and offer health guidance to them.
“For those we couldn’t contact though phone calls, we tried to obtain their other contact information from the police stations or the communities they live in,” said Zhao Menghan, a healthcare doctor from Jinsong community healthcare center in Chaoyang district, Beijing.
So far, the healthcare center has got in touch with about 270 people from Wuhan and provided health guidance for them. Li Yongjin, director of the center, said to prevent the epidemic from spreading, Jinsong community strictly practices pre-examination triage and adheres to the model that the physician who treats the patient from the very beginning has primary responsibility for the patient’s care throughout the treatment.
For suspected and confirmed cases, the center has strengthened screening and isolation treatment, enhanced monitoring and standardized relevant procedures.
Changsha in central China’s Hunan province has deployed community keepers to inspect and control the spread of the epidemic in suspected areas. Xiang Hongbing, secretary of the Party branch of a residential area in the city, said that cadres of the community, community assistants, and volunteers are all on guard to intensify inspection.
In the end, they spotted 36 households in the community that needed to be isolated. During isolation, all the daily necessities for these households were offered and delivered to the isolated by the community workers.
On Jan. 20, Xiao Xiangxiu, a resident of the community went to visit her relatives in Wuhan and returned home two days later. When she noticed the publicity posters of her community the following day, she reported her information to the community.
“Though I’m isolated at home, I’m supplied with adequate daily necessities and taken good care of by the community staff. Sometimes I would like to spend the time talking with a friend in my community through video chat,” Xiao told People’s Daily, adding that she is now an online publicity agent of her community, helping the latter dispel rumors.
The demand for protective masks soars on fears of the epidemic. How to deal with used masks to avoid secondary pollution is a tricky problem. A residential community in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan province has installed a yellow trash can to collect used masks. Residents need to put the masks in a plastic bag before throwing them into the can. When the masks are inside the can, an inspector will disinfect the can. In about one hour, a truck will stop there and two people wearing blue protective suits and masks will load the discarded masks on the truck and then transport them to a recycling station.
The recycling personnel are responsible for only designated areas in order to avoid cross-infection, according to Lv Chunlin, head of a garbage classification office of a district in the city. In the district, there are a total of 758 recycling stations that have collected 3,288 pieces of discarded masks and 10,866 containers wrapping cleaning and disinfection waste since Jan. 28.
On Jan. 27, Zhengzhou issued an emergency notice requiring that special garbage containers be installed in residential communities, government agencies, and institutions to collect discarded masks.
The discarded masks are collected and transported by special vehicles, and they must not be mixed and compressed with other garbage at the garbage transfer station. After classification, the discarded masks are transported to the incineration power plant for harmless incineration.
A few days ago, Chen Lin, a member of the ecological civilization committee and Shi Aiping, a member of the environmental protection committee of Zhangdai village in Jiangyan district, Taizhou, east China’s Jiangsu province visited the village clinic to publicize standardized disposal of medical waste.
They said the disposal of medical waste is the last line of defense for epidemic prevention and control, and the waste must be collected and disposed of in accordance with regulatory requirements.
There are a large number of returnees in rural areas during the Spring Festival, and many remote villages are the key areas and vulnerable spots of epidemic prevention and control.
At the beginning of 2017, Jiangyan district established China’s first village-level ecological civilization committee and environmental protection committee.
Against the backdrop of severe epidemic prevention and control, the district made full use of their the grassroot members who are familiar with local conditions, and over 500 members have been mobilized to join the epidemic prevention and control.
In the past few days, these people visited the village and community clinics on a regular basis to urge and remind medical staff to properly manage and dispose of medical waste, in a bid to prevent secondary pollution.
Salute to beautiful “fighters in white” in China’s battle against novel coronavirus
As the third decade of the 21st century just raised its curtain, a novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, turning hospitals into battlefields and medical staffs into soldiers.
The 84-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Zhong Nanshan rushed to the epicenter on a high-speed train, leaving a touching scene on television screens and social media networks; batches of medical workers volunteered to lend a hand for Wuhan, saying they don’t need any reward and are not afraid of death.
They are sticking to their posts in the heart of danger, and going directly into the battlefield.
At 9:00 a.m., Jan. 22, Wu Xiaoyan, a physician from the pathology department of the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, who was on route to her hometown for the approaching Chinese New Year, immediately went back to Wuhan after receiving a call of medical assistance from her hospital. Two hours later, she showed up at the hospital, saying she only felt assured when staying in the “battle ground” where everybody else was combating.
“My ‘comrade in arms’ are all here, and the more dangerous it is, the more we have to fight,” said Yan Li, associate chief physician at the emergency department of Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital. She had applied for a vacation to the hospital and was preparing for a family trip on Jan. 22. However, she went straight back to the hospital from the airport.
Zhu Hu, vice president of the Wuhan Psychological Hospital who had just withdrawn from an aiding program in Tibet Autonomous Region, was suddenly diverted to the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, where he had worked for years to assist his former colleagues in the battle against the novel coronavirus.
It was on the second day of her daughter’s arrival at home from Beijing for the Chinese New Year that Zhu received the order. He went straight to the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital after shortly seeing her daughter. Zhu has been living in a hotel near the hospital in case his family might be infected, and his daughter is still not able to see him till today.
In face of the epidemic, there are a great number of medical staffs across the country who have left touching words on their application letters to assist Wuhan, saying they stand ready at any time and will do anything to contain the virus.
When difficulties arise in one place in the country, aid comes from everywhere. A total of over 6,000 medical staffs went to Wuhan to aid the novel coronavirus control efforts. They volunteered to go to the battlefield and stand together with the people in Wuhan.
Fever clinics, designated hospitals, specialized hospitals, observation zones, isolation zones and red zones – these are terms that would always terrify people. However, there are over 60,000 medical staffs in Wuhan sticking to their posts, and 15,000 “fighters in white” combating on the front line.
According to an executive at the fever clinic of the Wuhan No.7 Hospital, the hospital has opened 6 consulting rooms since the clinic started on Jan. 22, and 9 doctors are working simultaneously for the patients. The clinic receives around 1,000 patients on a daily basis, the executive said.
Liu Liang, a nurse from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University assisted doctors to save 4 critical patients from 0:00 to 4:00 am, Jan. 29. They were in 5 protective suits each to draw blood, complete blood gas analysis and give injections.
After a short break, Liu continued her shift from 16:00 to 20:00. “Every trivial move becomes difficult under the thick protective suits, and sweats have soaked my clothes after working four hours non-stop,” Liu said.
Days after arriving at the First People’s Hospital of Jiangxia, Wuhan, the voice of Sun Liqun, leader of the assisting medical team from eastern China’s Jiangsu province started becoming hoarse. The deputy director of ICU at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University always has lunch at 2:00 p.m., as she has to see the patients in the wards every morning with local doctors and make treatment plans. She always softens her lunch with water when the food gets cold.
“When a fighter is down, we have numerous coming up, standing their grounds and embracing unknown challenges.” That is what Huang Yanqing, a nurse from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University who is now assisting the ICU at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital wrote in her notebook after seeing a determined look in the eyes of an infected Wuhan doctor.
