Reflection on the New Crown Epidemic in Three Years Four｜Policy Takes a Sharp Turn, What to Do in the Rural Areas?

With the surge in the number of infected people across China, how to deal with the outbreak of the epidemic in vast rural areas and small towns with limited medical resources has become the top priority of epidemic prevention.

At the official level, although the comprehensive team of the State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism for the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Work Plan for Improving the New Coronary Pneumonia Medical Security Capabilities in Rural Areas by Relying on the County Medical Community", in which Top-level design has been made on how to improve the counterpart assistance mechanism, form medical service linkage, strengthen the construction of buffer wards, and implement classified admissions and publicity guidance for designated hospitals and sub-designated hospitals. However, when it comes to practice and reality, rural epidemic prevention with a weak foundation The problems mentioned in the red-headed document are much more complicated. "Rural elderly people are running naked", "one village has a fever", and "queuing up for infusion" has become a real scene in rural areas nowadays.

Three-year Reflection on the New Crown Epidemic 1｜Victory or Lesson?

Three-year Reflection on the New Coronary Epidemic Part 2｜How is the "Whistleblower System" possible?

Three years of reflection on the new crown epidemic Ⅲ｜Is it all the fault of the local government?

The most prominent problem is the "insufficient preparation" in various aspects brought about by the sharp turn of the policy.

Such "lack of preparation" is also reflected in large and medium-sized cities, such as the insufficient supply of drug antigens during the first wave of outbreaks in Beijing, long queues at fever clinics in major hospitals, large-scale infections of medical staff, and serious shortage of riders. , but the problems and contradictions are more prominent in rural areas and small towns, which are not only determined by hardware and resources, but also have a direct relationship with people's consciousness and concepts.

For the vast rural areas, the grassroots anti-epidemic personnel were still strictly preventing and controlling the day before, and they were still building shelter hospitals. In some places, residents’ doors were still sealed and their free movement was strictly restricted, but they were notified the next day. Demanding the removal of all epidemic prevention measures, there is no transition, no explanation, only blunt implementation. Whether it is the epidemic prevention personnel or the general public, they are generally at a loss and passively join the torrent of "letting go" without knowing what to do.

There are still many difficulties in the full realization of China's poverty alleviation goals.

(VCG)

In an interview with the media, Lu Dewen, a professor at the School of Sociology of Wuhan University and a researcher at the China Rural Governance Research Center, focused on the "insufficient preparation" of rural epidemic prevention at the hardware level.

"On the one hand, county-level medical resources are inherently limited. On the other hand, it is impossible to count on external support as before. Therefore, the rural medical system may face a "double attack", and the number of socially infected people is higher than ever before. Although The toxicity of the virus has weakened, and most people can handle it by themselves, but there will always be a certain proportion of people who need to go to the hospital for treatment. Look, medical facilities and resources have not yet been prepared. In other words, the "New Ten Measures" came out too quickly, and policies such as cross-regional nucleic acid and landing inspections are the core measures for rural prevention and control. If there are landing inspections, they can be controlled There is no risk of large-scale transmission of the epidemic. In the current situation, the pressure must be backlogged on the medical system.”

In addition, Lu Dewen also mentioned the "lack of preparation" at the level of public consciousness under the sharp turn of the policy.

"The current shift in prevention and control policies is the result of urban demand, and little consideration has been given to the demands and ideas of rural residents." Due to the epidemic, the bazaar was simply closed. But it was closed yesterday, and it was opened again today. In this case, the instant damage has been done, and it will take some time for the masses to adapt.” “As time goes by, the masses will slow down. Take it slowly, and when there are some cases around you, everyone can accept it, so the problem of publicity is not very big, but the big impact is the sharp turn of the policy that impacts the masses, I think this is a lesson.”

In the three-year cycle of the epidemic, the vast rural areas on the "edge" are often very passive, and can only adjust their own rhythm to adapt to the pace of the "central" cities.

For example, in the early days of the epidemic, although the epidemic had already appeared in December 2019, Zhong Nanshan publicly confirmed the "existence of human-to-human transmission" for the first time on January 20, but it continued until January 26, which is the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar. The seriousness and urgency were transmitted from the "central" cities to the vast counties and rural areas, and the transmission happened almost overnight.

At that time, there was no transition and no guidance, so that for a period of time, the rural areas had "hard-core epidemic prevention", and the epidemic prevention gradually became more campaign-oriented and extreme.

The epidemic has long since occurred, and various rural villages have blocked each other's intersections.

(Weibo @热情报战战)

Nowadays, regardless of whether it is active or passive, it is the general trend to let go. Faced with the problems caused by "lack of preparation" in the countryside, we can only race against time to make up and solve them.

On the one hand, we will continue to increase the vaccination rate of the elderly group. One reality is that the vaccination rate of the elderly group in rural areas and small towns is generally low. According to data, the current rate of two shots for the elderly over 60 years old in mainland China is 86.6%. Only 66.4%, and the ratio in rural areas is much lower than the national average.

There are 267 million people over the age of 60 in the country, and every percentage point increase in the vaccination rate can build a barrier against severe illness and death for more than 2 million people.

On the other hand, considering the special circumstances of the vast number of elderly living alone in rural areas, it is necessary to adopt more flexible and effective countermeasures, such as "knocking on the door" and delivering medicines to the door, so as to maximize the protection of this part of the group's medication needs .

There has been a saying in China since ancient times that "counties are governed and the world is safe." Next, as the Spring Festival approaches, how to defend the defense line against the epidemic in the weakest areas and practice "life first, people first" has become a major test and challenge. A key test for the governance of China.

Three years of reflection on the new crown epidemic Ⅲ｜Is it all the fault of the local government?

Reporter's Notes: Five Questions and Five Answers on the Beijing Epidemic: Three-Year Reflection on the New Coronary Epidemic Part 2 | How is the "Whistleblower System" Possible?

Three-year Reflection on the New Crown Epidemic 1｜Victory or Lesson?