Robots in charge of food service at the Beijing Olympics 0:44
(CNN) --
There are thousands of local employees and volunteers helping Olympic participants inside the "closed circuit" set up for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Most people never fully see each other's expressions as everyone wears a mask.
In fact, many of them are covered from head to toe in full protective gear.
But many of them are eager to chat, longing for more interaction.
ANALYSIS |
More than a million people apply to enter the covid-free Beijing Olympic bubble
In every conversation, I am amazed at the personal sacrifice they have made to be a part of the event.
For months, they have to live apart from their families inside the Olympic bubble.
After the Games are over, they are quarantined for 21 days at a government facility to ensure no cases of covid-19 escape.
There are two small glass cubicles outside our hotel.
Inside each one is a worker in a hazmat suit, mask, and face shield.
They administer our covid-19 tests every day.
The first cubicle scans our credentials and hands us a tube.
The second cubicle takes our throat sample.
A chef receives a nucleic acid test at a hotel that houses the Beijing Media Center for journalists working outside the closed-circuit bubble at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Olympic Park on February 2, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Athletes, officials and journalists arriving in China for the Winter Olympics must remain in a bubble to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as China continues to uphold its zero-Covid policy.
(Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
I asked the man in the first cubicle how he was.
He is a nurse in Beijing and volunteered to work during the Games.
He lives in the same hotel as us and can only go between the hotel and the cubicle.
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During your shifts that last at least six hours, you cannot drink, eat or use the bathroom all the time.
To avoid the need to relieve himself, he does not eat before his shift begins.
She says it's hard being away from her 6-year-old son for so long, but she manages to video call him every day.
Despite the grueling work, he said he is proud to be a part of the Winter Olympics.
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To travel between our hotel and the Olympic venues, we have dedicated drivers.
One of them told me that he misses his 3-year-old son and has had enough of the food at his CCTV hotel.
On Lunar New Year's Day, I saw an Olympic worker standing on the edge of the closed circuit, waving to her two young children behind layers of barricades and fences.
Meters away, her children yelled at her mother that they missed her and wished they could be together for the New Year.
The woman told me that her family lives near the Olympic area.
In fact, she could even see her house from her hotel room on closed circuit.
She told me that this was the longest she had been apart from her children, and it brought tears to her eyes to think of how close and how far away they are.
The CNN journalist's journey to reach Beijing 2:44
Olympic Games Beijing 2022