During epidemic prevention and control, those who are affected are undoubtedly the ones who are quarantined; but when it comes to hardship, the frontline epidemic prevention workers have the most say.
In addition to the visible physical exhaustion, there is also the invisible psychological distress. On one hand, they endure the misunderstandings of quarantined residents, and on the other hand, they suppress their guilt for not taking good care of their own families.
Speaking of physical exhaustion#
The number of epidemic prevention workers is limited, while the number of quarantined residents is huge, especially in cases like ours where the entire community is quarantined - with thousands of people in over a dozen buildings. I have observed the number of epidemic prevention workers in the community, and initially there were less than a hundred, but after one round of nucleic acid screening, it is estimated that less than fifty remained for maintenance. What do these few dozen people need to do?
1. At least one epidemic prevention worker at the entrance of each unit
Due to confirmed cases in the community, the entire community was initially restricted from going downstairs, and there is an epidemic prevention worker at every building entrance.
2. Delivery of express delivery and handling of garbage
Express delivery and takeout are all left at the entrance, and then the epidemic prevention workers use a cart to deliver them to the entrances of each unit, and residents come downstairs to pick them up. Residents who are quarantined at home (referring specifically to those who have cases in the same location) are not allowed to go downstairs, so these items can only be delivered by epidemic prevention workers to each floor one by one, which is very labor-intensive.
3. Irregular organization of nucleic acid testing for all personnel
After the community was sealed off, nucleic acid testing was required almost every day, and each time it lasted almost a whole day. In addition to centralized nucleic acid collection, for those who are under home quarantine, epidemic prevention workers need to arrange one-on-one nucleic acid testing at their doorsteps.
Speaking of psychological suppression#
During the previous quarantine, I wrote an article - Knock on the Door at Midnight, which recorded my experience of being awakened by a knock on the door at midnight. In that article, I also mentioned that the aunt who came to do the door-to-door nucleic acid testing was actually quite aggrieved, because they are just grassroots workers who have to endure the residents' insults while working tirelessly. It's not easy for them.
In this quarantine, they still need to conduct nucleic acid testing overnight, and they can't rest well during the day or night - for their families, they have become sons who are not sons, daughters who are not daughters, fathers who are not fathers, and mothers who are not mothers...
No wonder there is news like this, where some workers would rather test positive themselves than continue doing this damn job.
There are many widely spread videos on the internet that depict epidemic prevention workers as thugs in protective suits, comparing them to the Red Guards wearing red armbands during the Cultural Revolution. I am documenting these, not to refute those opinions, but as an ordinary resident who is quarantined, to show the real daily lives of epidemic prevention workers that I have witnessed.
From an individual perspective, most of them are just like us, facing their own difficulties.