2 | Wednesday, January 20, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO
1 Inspector City: Volunteers play recounts testing time vital protection role at market
From page 1 salute them. You can make it, By ZHANG YU in Shijiazhuang Hebei. With the efforts of every [email protected] At a news conference on Jan 12, I have no fear of the one involved, success is not far Gao Weili, an epidemiologist at away.” After being yelled at by an angry the city’s Center for Disease Con virus. I just hope it vendor in front of a garlic sprout trol and Prevention, advised peo will go away after all Freezing temperatures 2 stall, Zhang Na was left weeping. ple to keep warm as they waited In Taitou village, Shijiazhuang, She turned away and used her to be tested in what is usually the our efforts.” middleaged volunteers take turns right hand to wipe away the tears, coldest month of the year locally. to stand guard in freezing tempera hoping no one had seen her. Hua Lingchao, construction Despite the inconvenience worker called in to help assem tures at the entrance to the neigh The 41yearold felt ashamed and caused by the lockdown, people see ble prefabricated rooms at a borhood, preventing people from embarrassed. However, as she was it as a necessary step to avoid a centralized quarantine facility entering or leaving during the lock standing beside several stalls at a resurgence of COVID19 cases. in Zhengding county, down. They also ensure food and large vegetable wholesale market in Shopping malls, theaters, muse Shijiazhuang medicines are available in suffi Qiaoxi district, Shijiazhuang, capital ums and other facilities have been cient quantities for those undergo of Hebei province, she had nowhere shuttered across the city, with the ing home quarantine. to hide. exception of pharmacies selling 4,000 Sometimes, elderly residents The city, hit by a rising number of medications, and whose staff mem rooms take on these voluntary duties. COVID19 cases since the start of bers wear full protective gear. being built at the Liu Dongsheng, chairman of the this year, has been under lockdown The small number of hotels quarantine center village old people’s association, for about two weeks, with transpor authorized to remain open have which organizes the volunteers, tation services suspended and resi started to demand a recent nega said, “These posts cannot be dents ordered to stay home. tive nucleic acid test result from Thursday. He had been working on unmanned.” 3 Zhang, an office clerk, has been guests. a residential building project in At quieterthanusual Shijiazhu transferred to work in outdoor areas However, a closer look at peo downtown Shijiazhuang, but oper ang Railway Station, tens of thou at the market to prevent infection. ple’s lives in local communities ations at that site were suspended sands of travelers — mostly Her duties involve monitoring disin reveals another story — one of due to the COVID19 outbreak in homebound migrant workers and fection measures taken at the stalls. mutual help. the city. college students — continue to Despite wearing a long, black Wu Gaoyuan, an Englishlan “I’m so glad I can take part in arrive in the city every day. downfeather coat, she was strug guage teacher at a local college, constructing these rooms, as this With public transportation ser gling to keep warm after working who is undergoing home quaran enables me to contribute directly to vices suspended, free chartered outdoors all morning in a tempera tine with her husband, 4month the fight against the disease,” Hua buses are available. ture of about 3 C. old son and her parentsinlaw, said. Civil affairs authorities are also “The cold is nothing compared said she is living in isolation but The 34yearold said he had had standing by to provide temporary with all the work we need to do to does not feel cut off. enough of being cooped up and shelter to those returning to the ensure sufficient supplies of agricul Her family was placed under lying on the bed in his dormitory city’s Gaocheng district, where tural produce are delivered smooth strict quarantine for 21 days after for the past 10 days, adding, “It was strict controls are in place. ly,” she said. her husband returned from his so boring. I’d rather do some Zhang Zhenshu, 51, who has Vehicles entering the market are family home in the city’s Gaocheng work.” worked for a year at a construction disinfected and the stalls have to be district, where the province’s first He also said he had used up his site in neighboring Shanxi 4 sanitized at least four times a day. confirmed case of COVID19 was 40gigabyte data package for surf province, said: “I heard about the Zhang encountered the angry detected on Jan 2. ing the internet on his phone. bus service through a WeChat vendor on the morning of Jan 11 in a “We have a paper seal on our Wearing a white safety helmet, group, where my fellow villagers passageway at the market, where door,” the young mother said. gray coat and dark trousers, Hua exchange virusrelated informa she was inspecting antivirus work. Instead of becoming frustrated, appeared unworried by the dust tion. I had been worried about The vendor complained that his the 27yearold praised the unity in covering his clothes, the cold transportation before hearing vegetables bought from outside the her neighborhood. She said this is weather and the urgency of his about the service.” city had been spoiled by the cold largely due to the community work. Medical aid workers continue to because the trucks transporting workers and volunteers shuttling “I have no fear of the virus. I just arrive in Shijiazhuang from them were waiting in line for a long between families, grocery stores hope it will go away after all our Shaanxi and Jiangsu provinces to time to pass through checkpoints. and pharmacies in an attempt to efforts,” he said. help with contact tracing and test Since the local outbreak emerged, hold the area together during a Along with Hua, thousands of ing. certificates have been required for challenging time. workers from different compa Donations of medical equipment drivers and their vehicles before “They do all the registration nies have been brought to the area worth tens of millions of yuan, they can pass through checkpoints work so that we can go downstairs to build the quarantine facility, including thermometer guns and on roads linking the city with other in different batches to get a throat which is taking shape rapidly and surgical masks, have arrived at areas. swab, avoiding crossinfection,” will comprise more than 4,000 local hospitals, reminding the city’s 5 In addition, everyone entering the Wu said. apartment rooms, each occupying residents that they have not been market must produce a recent nega “Shijiazhuang people tend to 18 square meters. Construction forgotten. tive nucleic acid test result and have stick together during the hard started on Jan 13, and over 1,000 Firefighters wearing hazmat their temperature and ID card times,” she added. rooms have been completed. suits ensure that food supplies are checked. Hua, who has a 13yearold delivered promptly to people Zhang said, “These are not nor Direct contribution daughter and 11yearold son, talk undergoing centralized quarantine mal times and we’ve hardly had any Meanwhile, at a construction ed happily with his colleagues dur at a hotel. rest in helping businesses avoid site in Zhengding county, Shijiaz ing lunch, telling them that his One morning, a man in his 40s infection.” She added that her col huang, Hua Lingchao squatted children expected him to return wearing a face mask knocked on leagues have a similar heavy work beside a partly built apartment home soon. the glass door at the hotel to attract load. room, using one hand to eat a take “They are hoping I can come the attention of those on duty. “However, I could understand the out meal. home and reunite with them for “My sister is in room 401. Please vendor being a little anxious about That morning, he and his col Spring Festival,” he said, adding hand this stuff over to her,” he said, his vegetables, because spoiled pro leagues had assembled a number that he had left his home in leaving two bags of snacks on the duce would cause him to lose mon of prefabricated rooms at a central Quzhou county, Handan city, floor. ey,” she said. ized quarantine center being built Hebei, for nearly six months. He added, “Thank you, com 1. A worker disinfects passengers at Shijiazhuang Railway Sta “Some vendors have faced similar for those with a higher risk of infec After watching a video of the rades, for your dedication and tion, Hebei province. 2-3. Arrivals in the city need to show a nega situations — this was inevitable tion, such as close contacts of COV construction work at the site for courage.” tive nucleic acid test result. 4. Vegetables arrive at a market in the when the new measures were intro ID19 patients in Hebei and the quarantine center, Sina Weibo city. 5. Workers carry wooden supports at a quarantine center duced, but most traders have been secondary close contacts. user “Shenqi”, posted: “All the con Contact the writers at being built in Zhengding county, Shijiazhuang. understanding, as we are all involved Hua was sent to the area on structors have worked so hard. I [email protected] PHOTOS BY WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY in the fight against the virus.”
Prefabricated apartment rooms take shape at the quarantine center in Shijiazhuang. YANG SHIYAO / XINHUA