stonecrandall Chapter 27 Tracing the Origin of the Epidemic
Chapter 27 Tracing the Origin of the Epidemic
Just as Li Xiaming met with the head of Dajiang City to investigate the source of the outbreak originating from North America.
On the other hand, under the organization of grassroots comrades in Dajiang City and the heads of various underground shelters.
People began to enter various testing areas in the city in batches, maintaining a two-meter distance, organized by community.
All the people wore N95 masks delivered by the emergency medical team, with only their eyes showing, and a sense of tension permeated the quiet atmosphere.
In the long queue, a little boy, held tightly by his mother's hand, suddenly shivered, and a muffled voice came from under his mask:
"Mom, I'm so cold..."
Even wrapped in thick cotton clothes, the boy's small body still trembled slightly in the freezing cold of minus twenty degrees Celsius.
His mother immediately knelt down and hugged him tightly, using her arms and body to shield him from the cold wind as much as possible.
Through thick gloves, the mother awkwardly touched her child's back, her eyes filled with heartache and helplessness.
The people queuing around felt sorry for her when they saw this scene and sighed:
"These are turbulent times. Not only are we experiencing extreme cold, but we're also dealing with a plague that's spread from abroad. What are we going to do?"
Just then, the sound of wheels turning came from afar.
The people in line looked in the direction of the sound—
Several young volunteers in hazmat suits were seen pushing a cart carrying a huge insulated container toward them.
Young volunteers in front of the bucket used spoons to pour bowls of ginger soup into disposable bowls and handed them to the people in line.
"Uncle and Aunt, be careful, it's hot. Have a bowl of ginger soup to warm yourself up."
"Everyone, please throw your used paper bowls into our chemical waste bins. Don't litter, and let's ensure hygiene and safety!"
After the test is completed, please leave through the designated passage and do not linger.
Upon returning to the shelter, please follow the staff to collect free masks, medical alcohol, and vitamin tablets. Please pay attention to hygiene...
"Auntie, the child is freezing, please give him some water."
"Oh... thank you, thank you so much!"
The mother gratefully accepted the hot ginger soup from a young volunteer, thanking him repeatedly.
She carefully blew on it before holding it to the child's mouth.
The little boy held the warm bowl in both hands and sipped the water. His pale face, which had been frozen, finally regained its color.
"Mom, I'm not cold anymore!"
"Okay, Xiao Ke, quickly say thank you to your brother!"
The little boy turned to the young volunteer still standing beside him, straightened his little body, and said very seriously:
"Thank you, brother! I want to be like you when I grow up!"
He paused, then tilted his head and said, "Hmm... I remember the teacher said something about this called......"
The young volunteer was visibly taken aback upon hearing this.
He then laughed, gave the little boy a thumbs-up, and said:
"Little brother, this is called 'Serving the People,' and you will surely become a good comrade who serves the people in the future!"
"Yes! I want to be a good comrade too!"
Citizens of Dajiang City lined up for quarantine.
Medical convoys from all over the country are still arriving in Dajiang City as reinforcements.
Mobile PCR testing vehicles lined up in front of citizens, with testing personnel in blue protective suits moving among them, exchanging samples and adjusting equipment.
At the Beijing Municipal Health Headquarters, thousands of miles away, real-time testing data for residents of Dajiang City was constantly displayed on a large screen.
With the continued investment of more medical personnel and equipment, Dajiang City's daily testing capacity has rapidly increased to over three million tests.
Currently, influenza testing and screening of the entire population of the city can be completed within 15 hours.
To ensure that residents of Dajiang City can return to their warm underground shelters in time before the extreme cold nights arrive, when temperatures plummet to nearly minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius, thus guaranteeing the safety of the people of Dajiang City.
……
……
Meanwhile, at the temporary data command center of the Dajiang City Municipal Building.
Here, a joint tracing working group composed of big data experts sent from the committee headquarters and disease control officials has taken its place.
On the large screen, data streams continuously flowed, including city maps and communication signals, resettlement site registration information, and initial abnormal health reports for the entire city.
Experts are watching the screens intently, trying to find the earliest chain of infection amidst the vast sea of information.
"Focus on investigating Shelter No. 7, Block B, where there were three early reports of fever and the movement routes overlap with those of the overseas supplies receiving team."
"Communication base station data shows that the person in charge of Zone C of Shelter 6 had brief contact with an initial suspected case."
The data command center kept issuing instructions, and the grassroots staff began to verify information by phone, retrieve surveillance footage, and race against time to track down every close contact and secondary close contact of the case.
Inside the command center, Zhou Lihe shouted:
"Comrades, we must do everything we can to break the chain of transmission and protect the lives of every one of our compatriots!"
Ten minutes later.
A big data expert, who was intently monitoring the data flow in a certain area, suddenly leaned forward, pointed to the large screen, and said:
"etc!"
"Pull up the resident's recent data, zoom in, and zoom in some more!"
"Yes, that's him!"
Everyone in the command room focused their attention on the expert's words.
[Identity: Zhao Youwei, Gender: Male, ID Number: 3XXXXXXX8, Registered resident of Shelter No. 7, Dajiang City.]
I previously worked at the Dajiang City International Logistics Transit Center.
Three days ago, I had a brief consultation and received cold medicine at the medical point of Shelter No. 7 due to "mild cough and fatigue," but no in-depth testing was conducted.
The expert pointed to this person's information and said:
"This Mr. Zhao is now in the isolation area and is one of the first infectious patients we discovered."
Besides him, five other people developed varying degrees of flu symptoms approximately three to five days prior.
"What they have in common is that they all had contact with the Dajiang City International Logistics Transit Center!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lihe's eyes lit up, and he quickly gave the order.
"Tracing team, keep digging deeper! It's definitely not just Mr. Zhao."
He then looked at the big data team and said:
"Now we will focus our efforts on the Dajiang International Logistics Transit Center."
We started tracing all the employees at this logistics center, as well as the information on goods that had arrived in China within the last two weeks—we didn't miss a single one!
"clear!"
"Retrieving data from the international logistics center!"
"The big data AI model is calculating..."
At Zhou Lihe's request, the sound of keyboards being typed in the command room was like a torrential downpour, and the sound of telephone calls rose and fell incessantly.
While tracing the source of the infectious virus, the red circles representing risk areas on the large screen map are rapidly expanding.
Countless offline medical workers and grassroots comrades, under the guidance of the data command center, rushed to the scene to implement lockdown measures.
Li Xiaming stood behind the command room, his breathing unconsciously slowing down.
Although he had attended many top-level meetings before, the experts at those meetings were all of a very high caliber, and he often didn't understand what they were saying.
Moreover, the decisions made are all at the most macro level nationwide. Li Xiaming often only feels that they are very impressive, but he cannot perceive how impressive they are, lacking intuitive understanding.
But seeing the command center on the front line of the country, and witnessing the modern mobilization capabilities of all the staff present, which were driven by data and synchronized across levels in real time, Li Xiaming was completely shocked.
What is a professional?
That's professionalism, so incredibly professional!