A new round of epidemic, how can schools effectively prevent and control
——Interview with Zhang Boli, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
The recent new round of the epidemic has touched the hearts of people all over the country.
What are the characteristics of this round of epidemic?
What is the cause?
How should schools carry out effective prevention and control?
Recently, the reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Boli, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and honorary president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, on the above-mentioned issues.
Reporter: In this round of the epidemic, a large number of asymptomatic infections appeared. What is the reason?
Zhang Boli: The large number and high proportion of asymptomatic infections are the obvious characteristics of this round of epidemics.
First of all, it is related to the characteristics of the Omicron variant.
The infectivity of the new coronavirus variant is enhanced, and its toxicity is relatively weakened. Its clinical manifestations are that the clinical symptoms will be milder, and many infected people do not show clinical symptoms for a short time after infection.
Secondly, it is also related to early screening and early detection.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, extensive screening was carried out in various places. Due to early detection, many patients did not show symptoms of infection in the early stage of infection.
With the strengthening of "early detection" capabilities in various parts of my country, the goal of nucleic acid detection in my country is to complete the task of nucleic acid detection in the designated area within 24 hours.
The latest deployment of nucleic acid screening enables all parts of our country to detect infected persons as early as possible and control the source of infection in a shorter period of time.
Therefore, compared with those who were found in sentinel medical institutions due to fever and dry cough in the past, many infected people were found much earlier in time.
Another important reason is that our residents have been vaccinated on a large scale.
The immune system of the population is generally enhanced, so most of them are asymptomatic.
Reporter: Are asymptomatic infected people contagious?
How should prevention and control be carried out?
Zhang Boli: Although asymptomatic infected people have no clinical symptoms, they can detect the nucleic acid with virus in their body through nucleic acid detection. They have a certain viral load and are also infectious.
In the early stage of this round of the epidemic, after some asymptomatic infected people were diagnosed, there were cases where all their close contacts showed positive nucleic acid.
Therefore, once an asymptomatic infection is found, rapid and strict flow tracing must be carried out, early detection and early isolation.
The epidemic caused by this round of Omicron has been spreading for a period of time, and there are multiple routes of infection. Therefore, the flow adjustment work is difficult and complicated, and it needs to be more rigorous and careful. Consider whether there is a transmission chain in the early stage of the case, and try to find asymptomatic infected persons.
Only by finding all asymptomatic infected persons in the shortest time and completely blocking community transmission can we achieve social zero as soon as possible.
Asymptomatic infections are mainly managed in centralized isolation and medical observation.
It should not be taken lightly, because although asymptomatic, it is still contagious and more insidious; in addition, today is asymptomatic, and there may be symptoms tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Especially for key populations, such as the elderly, people with underlying diseases, as well as frail, obese and heavy smokers, they are at risk of symptoms appearing and changing rapidly and need special attention.
While adhering to the treatment of the original underlying disease, pay attention to observe its changes and intervene at any time.
Reporter: Under the current circumstances, how should education departments and schools carry out effective prevention and control?
Zhang Boli: Recently, the education system has faced severe challenges in epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic work.
Due to the high density of personnel in the education system and the large number of collective activities, the risk of epidemic transmission is high.
Once the epidemic occurs, it is easy to spread rapidly in the campus, endangering the lives and health of students, teachers and the masses.
Therefore, the education system must always tighten the string of epidemic prevention and control, adhere to the general policy of "dynamic clearing", and resolutely defend the bottom line of no cluster epidemics in schools.
At the school level, it is necessary to strictly implement the normalized epidemic prevention and control measures, and the daily prevention and control of the campus must be strict, practical and meticulous, pay attention to various details, and continuously improve the ability of "early detection" of the epidemic.
It is necessary to adhere to the prevention of people, things, and the environment and the prevention of multiple diseases, guide teachers and students to protect themselves on campus, and strengthen education and guidance on epidemic prevention and control outside the school.
Schools should also speed up the improvement of emergency response capabilities, continuously improve the school emergency response plan with complete elements, complete procedures and strong guarantees, and carry out multi-scenario and practical emergency response drills to ensure that the emergency plan can be launched quickly and in a timely manner.
Schools should formulate strict rules for entering and leaving the school.
Boarding students are required not to leave the school as much as possible. Those who must leave the school must report. They are not allowed to participate in off-campus gathering activities. Keep two points and one line to and from home and school, wear a mask on public transportation throughout the process, and reduce communication with others; interns must abide by the epidemic prevention and control regulations of their units.
It is also necessary to do a good job in the management of the student dormitory, strictly prohibit outsiders from entering the dormitory, require students not to gather in the dormitory area, visit the door, and keep the dormitory ventilation, sanitation and cleanliness.
Properly handle mails and parcels received from overseas or domestic high-risk areas, including wearing masks and gloves. If they are not urgently needed, they can be placed in a ventilated place for a few days before processing, or use alcohol to kill the surface and contents of express delivery. Wait.
At the student's own level, they must abide by the school's various epidemic prevention regulations, consciously accept health monitoring, cooperate with nucleic acid testing, measure body temperature, and actively report their physical and mental health status in a timely manner.
Cooperate with epidemiological investigations, and accept centralized isolation medical observation or medical treatment according to regulations when necessary.
In school, when entering classrooms, study rooms and other public places, maintain a safe social distance from others.
Outside of school, avoid entering confined spaces with poor ventilation and dense crowds.
Complete learning tasks in accordance with school requirements, combine online and offline learning, and ensure academic health.
Adhere to scientific exercise, maintain regular work and rest, and enhance the body's immunity.
Once the school enters the emergency state of epidemic prevention and control, it must strictly abide by the local regulations on closure, control or prevention management, and cooperate with the implementation of control measures as required.
Author: our reporter Chen Xinran