Community workers in overdrive to quarantine flight passengers

Hardly had Air China flight CA936 touched down when the ground crew went into action.

Among them were eight quarantine personnel who boarded the plane arriving from Frankfurt at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport at 12:37pm on March 13.

Out of the 286 passengers, four were found feverish while another two told inspectors they had had cold medicine within 14 hours during health declaration.

The six passengers and four companions completed their entry procedures on the airport apron and were sent to designated medical institutions by ambulances for screening and treatment.

Another 30 passengers on the flight were delivered to quarantine sites for medical observation.

In the following hours, the other passengers went through entry checks before being handed over to taskforces waiting at the airport for arrivals from key countries and regions affected by the COVID-19.

Stationed at the city's two airports for two weeks already, they are tasked with picking up inbound travelers, registering their information, dividing them into groups and sending them to their homes in respective districts or collective quarantine facilities on chartered buses.

By around 8pm, quarantine work on CA936 flight had come to an end at the airport, but it was just getting started for front-line neighborhood officials, police officers, volunteers and others guarding against imported coronavirus infection. With the city now regularly reporting no new local infections, guarding against imported cases is a top priority.

At 8:40pm, Lu Ruihua got on a bus carrying eight passengers from the CA936 flight. Seven were Germans or Brazilians, the other a Chinese citizen. Also onboard were five passengers from another flight.

Lu, deputy head of the community management center at Huaxin Town, Qingpu District, was responsible for escorting the travelers to their homes in Qingpu, as arrivals from countries and regions at the center of the COVID-19 outbreak are banned from using public transport.

At around 9:40pm, the bus arrived at a neighborhood in Xujing Town, home to many expats, including a 60-something German woman who was onboard Lu's bus.

According to original procedures, these passengers would be placed under a 14-day quarantine at their own homes, but a call Lu received changed the plan.

He was told that the bus had to be rerouted because passengers from the flight were required to undergo further medical observation at a collective quarantine site.

This triggered some complaints from the German woman. To get her to cooperate, Lu even called her family to help. After about 10 minutes of explanation, she was talked into collective quarantine.

Frustrations also grew as some passengers were allowed to go home while others had to remain onboard.

With the atmosphere getting more tense, Lu recalled being confronted by a Brazilian mother who thought they were being "singled out" and treated differently.

"I had to repeatedly tell her that this was not the case, and they are just proper procedures," said Lu.

A Brazilian girl's request for a toilet break added to his plight, prompting him to make urgent pleas to staff at the designated quarantine spot. The girl was escorted to the toilet the moment the bus arrived.

Despite some minor disruptions, Lu managed to persuade the passengers to remain calm and cooperative. Chen Yufeng, however, encountered more difficulties.

One of the first batch of 76 volunteers posted by Songjiang District government at the city's two airports, Chen was chaperoning a Chinese-Ukrainian couple to their home in Songjiang's Jiuting Town when he overheard them intermittently coughing and saying "sensitive" words on the phone. He was instantly on alert.

"Honestly, I was a little nervous at the beginning, even frightened. But as a Party cadre, I could not flinch," he recounted.

Chen, who has worked on chartered buses for over a week, asked the couple about their health conditions and contacted the local community hospital.

Upon arrival, however, the couple refused to be examined, saying Chen was "making a fuss" and they only had slight cold symptoms. The negotiation went into a stalemate.

Finally, Yang Xia, a local neighborhood committee official, managed to persuade the couple to accept a checkup. It turned out to be a false alarm as they eventually tested negative for coronavirus.

"Today, I spoke to the couple again," said Yang the next day. "They were in a better mood and very cooperative."

Many front-line community workers, medical professionals and volunteers are on 24-hour standby to receive arrivals from the airports. This often means they have no time for proper meals.

Xia Jie, an official with the Bansongyuan Road Subdistrict in Huangpu District, was having dinner at his office when he received a call at around 6:30pm notifying him of an incoming traveler from the CA936 flight.

Within 15 minutes, Xia, a police officer and a medic from a local community hospital were clad head-to-toe in protective gear and waiting at the entrance of the passenger's neighborhood.

An hour later, the passenger arrived, a girl who returned from Brazil via Frankfurt as direct flights to Shanghai were unavailable. She had her temperature taken and signed a document promising not to leave home while in quarantine.

"I added her on WeChat and assured her that she could turn to me and other subdistrict officials for help during the period," said Xia.

In addition to mobilizing front-line elements such as neighborhood officials, property management employees and volunteers in the ongoing fight against imported coronavirus infection, Shanghai has also utilized cutting-edge technology to help alleviate the burden on these "gatekeepers."

The Bansongyuan Road Subdistrict is an example. A "smart brain" system consisting of technologies such as facial and car number plate recognition will be kicked into action once it detects a person leaving home during mandatory quarantine.

The system will then promptly report the person's movements to police to help track them down.