Epidemic Prevention in China 02 | N News Express | Xi'an "closed the city", grabbing food, queuing and sealing

Author / FC, Xiaoyu Editor / Dongdong (Originally published on December 28, 2021)

According to the press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Xi'an, from December 9 to 25, Xi'an reported a total of 485 local confirmed cases, of which 155 were newly confirmed on the 25th. On the afternoon of December 22, the Xi'an Municipal Government issued a notice stating that from 00:00 on December 23, citizens "do not leave the city unless necessary", and the city's communities (village) and units will implement closed management, and each household can be assigned every 2 days. 1 family member went out to buy daily necessities. Xi'an has entered the closure of the city.

From the afternoon to the evening after the closure of the city was announced, there were successive looting of supplies in various parts of Xi'an. The owner of a vegetable store told N Ji that his store was full of customers on the afternoon of the announcement, with rice and noodles selling the fastest. The boss buys from the Zhuque Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Chang'an District on weekdays. The Suzaku Wholesale Market found a positive infection on the 22nd, and the closure and control management was implemented in the early morning of the 23rd. "The biggest problem I'm facing right now is that the supply is out. I told my customers today that they want to buy them, so they can buy them quickly, and stock up for two or three days."

The Xi'an Municipal Government pointed out in the notice that supermarkets, convenience stores, medical institutions and other places closely related to residents' lives are allowed to operate normally. One of the convenience store owners told N Ji that December 22 was the hottest day in the history of the convenience store, "I have never seen so many people queuing up to buy things. I sold more than 10,000 on that day alone. At most, it sold two or three thousand. The larger convenience stores can sell three or four thousand on the day when they have more stock.”

According to convenience store owners, the biggest problem currently faced by convenience stores is also logistics. The owner of the convenience store said, "Logistics workers also have to cooperate with the government's nucleic acid policy of once every two days, and the transportation will definitely be slow. I asked how long it would take for them to deliver to my store, and he said that it is not necessarily two or three days. Inventory is less than one-third of normal."

"I can't go home now. That night everyone scrambled for things, and it was past eleven o'clock when the goods were sold out. When I got home, I found that the community would not let me in because of the ban policy. Even if I could enter the community, I would not be able to go out because of the stay-at-home policy. I can't do business. I live in the store now and make a living on a sofa by myself."

"Such a small convenience store of about 20 square meters, the annual rent is 160,000, and I will lose if it is not open for one day. I accidentally fell asleep that morning, and someone knocked on the door for delivery. I didn't hear it, and the delivery ended. I don’t know when it will be delivered next time. Now I’m most worried about whether I can go home for the New Year. I haven’t been home for two years. This year, if I can’t go home because of the epidemic, it will be the third year.” The convenience store owner said.

Different from the city closure notice that faced all citizens on Wednesday afternoon, the education and medical departments received notices of suspension of schools and clinics on Monday and Tuesday this week. Xiaohang is a junior high school student in Xi'an. He revealed that on the morning of December 20 (Monday), when he was about to go to school, he saw the notice of class suspension sent by the head teacher in the group in the early morning. The teacher previously required that all students complete nucleic acid tests and report to the school within the weekend. Since last Saturday, many free nucleic acid testing points have suddenly appeared near Xiaohangjia. Students and office workers lined up in long queues, "one next to each other, and basically no one kept a one-meter distance". Some people in the queue were coughing, and some people were spitting in the queue. Xiaohang felt scared. "If the infection will affect the entire school, the consequences will be unimaginable."

On December 21, the school started online teaching. On the same day, the teacher notified the class in the morning and asked the students to collect the second nucleic acid in the afternoon and report it to the school. On December 23, the first day of the lockdown, the teacher once again informed all students to go to the community testing site to collect nucleic acids. The testing time of each community is different, so Xiaohang had to hold his mobile phone and wait in line for nucleic acid collection while taking online classes. He questioned, "The risk of queuing up to collect nucleic acid is more risky than staying at home."

Xiao Zhang is a graduate student of a college in Chang'an University City. He told N Ji that the school has adopted school closure management before, and students need to ask for leave when they leave the school. After the outbreak of the current round of the epidemic, teachers will no longer grant leave to go out.

"However, the exams with more than 100 people were conducted offline as usual, and many people did not wear masks for the fourth and sixth grade exams. The day before Xi'an was closed, it was notified to switch to online classes. During peak hours in the cafeteria, there was a lot of people, but no seating was required. Sit down." Xiao Zhang said. "When there were no cases in Xi'an before, students generally complained that the school took measures to close the school, but this time the epidemic situation is serious, everyone said nothing."

According to N's understanding, the postgraduate entrance examination policy is currently the most controversial among education-related policies. Candidate Xiaoming told N Ji, "Some schools require a paper certificate of nucleic acid, but this certificate requires candidates to go to the hospital to do it. Now because the community cannot go out, nucleic acid testing has become a big problem. Now the amount of nucleic acid testing is very large, and it cannot be immediately The result is also an issue to be considered. There are also many road blockades now, and some students who originally considered taking transportation to take the test do not know how to get there. I see that there are still students before the outbreak of the epidemic, according to Shaanxi's requirements. They have come to Xi’an for a long time, but they are now banned, and hotels booked near the test center have also been checked out. It is a problem where they live, and how to go home and quarantine after the test is also a problem.”

"One of my classmates is currently quarantined at home. According to the announcement, she should be the one who was sent to the door. As a result, she called the staff of the test center, and they said that only the candidates who were quarantined in the hotel were sent to the door, and the community would not let her out. At home, she has to worry about how she is going to take the exam soon," she added.

In the early morning of December 25, less than 8 hours before the start of the test, the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education issued an emergency announcement. Candidates who are unable to arrive at the designated test site on time across cities for various reasons can hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 48 hours, personal written statement, etc. Apply for a borrowed test on-site at the nearest test center.

According to Phoenix.com, in the world, some candidates did not see the emergency announcement and were unable to enter the examination room without a nucleic acid test certificate. The WeChat official account showed that the report "violated the "WeChat Public Platform Operation Specification" and was banned from forwarding and sharing.

In terms of medical treatment, many hospitals in Xi'an have partially closed or only accept appointments. Among them, the outpatient and emergency department of Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital have been closed, and employees are isolated at home according to the requirements of epidemic prevention. Employee Xiao Li said that the inpatient department of the Provincial People's Hospital is still operating as usual. However, because the positive cases had visited the hospital and the Jiujintai community near the hospital had positive cases, they received relevant notices to discharge the patients who could be discharged from the hospital as much as possible. The patients who needed dialysis treatment had been transferred to other hospitals. Critically ill patients who cannot be transferred can continue to receive treatment in the People's Hospital. Patients who are still in the inpatient department cannot be discharged during the "closed city" period. "The patient is definitely affected. We understand and feel sorry for the patient. This life is difficult for everyone at present."

The picture comes from the public account of Shaanxi Normal University