Checkpoint volunteers staying alert in all weathers
A volunteer checks the trunk of a private car.
Volunteers check temperatures of passersby.
Volunteers take notes.
A volunteer stops passing traffic.
A sudden cold spell on February 15 reduced Shanghai’s temperature by 10 degrees Celsius and posed a challenge for frontline workers on duty at the G60 Fengjing checkpoint in Songjiang. Yet the workers withstood the sleet and continued to measure temperatures of passersby to control the spread of novel coronavirus.
By 9pm, a queue of vehicles had formed ahead of the Fengjing checkpoint.
“Please stretch your head out to have your temperature taken,” said Gu Siyi, a medical worker from the Sheshan Community Health Service Center.
After each measurement, she would hug the thermometer to her chest.
“Once a thermometer is wet, it can’t tell body temperature precisely and we may miss a fever patient. So we all cover them to prevent the rain getting on it,” said Gu.
Xia Ruilin, 55, from the disabled persons’ office in Yexie Town, applied without hesitation when his office was recruiting.
“There are only two male colleagues at my office, how could I not apply?” said Xia.
The night of February 15 was Xia’s fifth time working as a checkpoint volunteer. He measured temperatures, checked people’s identity cards and reviewed their forms. When the rain poured down he found it difficult to even open his eyes.
“He is in his 50s, but his vigor is no less than that of a young man,” said one frontline volunteer..
“I also feel tired after guarding for eight hours daily,” Xia said.
He Quanjun, leader of the group on the day and deputy chief of Xinbang Community Health Service Center, said: “The isolation gowns of our frontline workers’ would often get soaked on a rainy day, and the protection effect reduced as a result. But our workers just kept on guarding.”
