Testing needs become smaller and a large number of nucleic acid sampling kiosks are abandoned on the street

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On January 6, the General Plan for Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection in Beijing was released, which mentioned that hospitals and third-party nucleic acid testing institutions are encouraged to set up three to five convenient nucleic acid testing sites in each street (town). On January 8, at a press conference on the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism, Chang Zhaorui, a researcher at the Chinese CDC’s Department of Infection Prevention and Control, said that communities are required to keep enough convenient testing sites to ensure that residents are willing to be tested as much as possible. The community testing points should be reasonably set up to meet the needs of the residents based on the population base, the development of the epidemic and the willingness of the residents to be tested.

At present, the number of nucleic acid testing sites in each street (town) has been significantly reduced, but there are still many nucleic acid testing booths left in the streets. Recently, many citizens called 12345 citizen service hotline or reflected to Beijing Daily client that some testing booths are abandoned for half a year, some of them occupy the space of roads and community squares, and some of them are neglected and even have safety hazards, so the public calls for the withdrawal of abandoned testing booths as soon as possible.

Is the problem reflected by the public is universal? How many nucleic acid testing kiosks are to be disposed of? What problems may arise if they are not moved for a long time? The reporter launched a survey visit.

Voices

Citizens’ demands appear “reversed”

On January 5, the reporter saw two children playing “fencing games” on the east side of Andingmenwai Street, and carefully distinguished that the “weapon” in their hands was the long-handled cotton swab used for nucleic acid sampling. The reporter asked the children where the cotton swabs were from, and they pointed to the nucleic acid testing kiosk a hundred steps away. The kiosk has apparently been out of service for some time, with items piled up in a messy manner, and alcohol spray bottles, cotton swabs and other supplies on the sampling table, with the window wide open, and the items inside easily accessible. How long has this kiosk been abandoned? The answer is given by the garbage floating into the pavilion – into the depths of winter, the street trees have long been missing leaves, but the testing pavilion is piled with a lot of dry leaves.

On the street outside of Andingmen, a long-unused nucleic acid testing kiosk has a messy pile of items.

Walking in the streets and alleys, nucleic acid testing booths can be found everywhere, but most of them are posted on the “equipment maintenance” notice. Judging from the time on these notices, the nucleic acid testing kiosks are out of service for as short as one month and as long as six months. In the eyes of the public, these testing kiosks have become a special period of special memories of the talk, but also raised questions – these are now no longer used testing kiosks, when can be removed?

Combing through the complaints received by 12345 Citizen Service Hotline on issues related to nucleic acid testing kiosks, a special phenomenon emerged in December 2022, that is, the content of complaints “180 degrees reversed. Before December 7, most of the complaints were about the insufficient number of nucleic acid testing sites or the discontinuation of services; after that, the number of complaints decreased one after another. By late December, almost all of the public complaints pointed to the removal of nucleic acid testing kiosks: the nucleic acid testing kiosks have been abandoned for a short time under the overpass outside No. 15 South Third Ring Road; the rivets used to fix the nucleic acid testing kiosks are still “pronged” on the right-of-way after the kiosks were dismantled on the West Road of Building Materials City; the residents of the Lugu area reported that the abandoned nucleic acid testing kiosks in the district Nucleic acid testing kiosks abandoned in the district more, hope reasonable planning …… recently, from the city’s districts of related issues gradually increased.

In fact, the “reversal” of citizens’ demands coincides with the pace of optimization and adjustment of the city’s epidemic prevention and control measures. Restore normal life is full of expectations, “remove the booth” has become the majority of the public’s desire.

Visiting one

Abandoned testing kiosk occupies the road and is dangerous

Why do the public look forward to the abandoned nucleic acid testing kiosks quickly removed? The reporter found that the unused nucleic acid testing kiosks not only occupy public space such as urban roads, but also have electricity and fire safety hazards.

In Dongcheng District, there is a main road in and out of the vehicle, pedestrians, named Jiaodong District West Road, the east side of the right-of-way set up a nucleic acid testing kiosk. The reporter saw at the scene, the kiosk tightly occupies the full width of the right-of-way, residents have to go through here from the motorway detour. The wall of the nucleic acid testing kiosk was posted as early as November 20, 2022 with a notice of “Suspended due to reasons”, and on December 23, 2022, an additional detailed explanation of “equipment maintenance” was added, and the residents were directed to the neighboring Nucleic acid testing sites.

The nucleic acid testing kiosk, which is out of service on West Jiaodong District, occupies the road and residents have to take a detour.

Mr. Wang said, looking back to last year, we all worked together to fight the epidemic, and although the nucleic acid testing kiosk was set up on the right-of-way and occupied the road, we all understood. But now that the need for nucleic acid testing is no longer urgent and there are nucleic acid testing sites around that provide normal services, the kiosk can be removed from the road. “The right-of-way is connected to the entrance and exit of the community, which is a relatively dense area for traffic, and the testing kiosk obscures the view of the elderly and children passing through here is very unsafe.”

There are also residents mentioned that some nucleic acid testing kiosks are no longer used, but there are still a lot of cardboard boxes, alcohol or disinfectant piled up inside, the kiosk is connected to a temporary cable, long-term unattended, worry about electricity, fire and other safety hazards. The reporter noticed that the nucleic acid testing kiosk on the right-of-way of the West Road of the Jiaodong District is wide open, and the key is still inserted in it.

Nucleic acid testing kiosk in Xicheng District, Le Cheng District has also been complained about by residents. The district’s residential buildings are mainly high-rise, many households, space constraints, roadside areas are almost all set up parking spaces, due to the ban on electric bicycles into the building, the district has increased the charging carport, for residents to relax and fitness place only a small square. Residents say that this square is already very “pocket-sized”, “if the nucleic acid testing booth on the square is not used, stop grabbing space with the elderly and children.” The nucleic acid testing kiosk on the small square is close to the fitness equipment area, residents exercise almost all have to “face” towards the kiosk; someone wants to play badminton, there is always a cable in the air connected to the testing kiosk to hide; children practice roller skating, the elderly dance, the testing kiosk is also very obstructive.

The nucleic acid testing kiosk in the square of Le Cheng District is out of service, occupying the leisure and fitness space of residents.

Mr. Zhang said, in last year’s epidemic prevention and control situation tight stage, the small square set nucleic acid testing points to meet the needs of residents, residents can do nucleic acid testing without leaving the community, is indeed a great thing. But now the epidemic prevention and control has turned, people do not need to test nucleic acid frequently, the testing kiosk has also been out of use for more than a month, I hope that the kiosk will be removed as soon as possible, the activity space back to the residents.

Visit two

The “willingness to test all” encountered “confusion”

Since January 8, the city’s epidemic prevention and control formally implemented the “B class B tube”, “Beijing new coronavirus infection prevention and control work plan” clearly proposed to adjust the population testing strategy, in accordance with the “willingness to test as much as possible” principle, nucleic acid testing to implement a single person single tube, cancel The new program will be implemented in accordance with the principle of “testing as many people as possible”.

“Which point is still open, which point is left empty booths, can there be an accurate information?” In 12345 citizen service hotline calls, still have nucleic acid testing needs of the public, due to a large number of nucleic acid testing kiosks have been abandoned, the current regular nucleic acid testing point operation can not be inquired, looking for nucleic acid testing point is like walking into a “confusion”. For example, Ms. Zhang said, see a nucleic acid testing kiosk across the road, after climbing the street bridge panting to the kiosk, but found that the kiosk has long been “abandoned”.

On the afternoon of January 6, Mr. Wu wanted to do a nucleic acid test after recovering from a new crown infection, so he walked all the way along Jian’an East Road, from the intersection of Sakura Garden West Street to the intersection of Anding Road, a total of about 850 meters, there were many nucleic acid testing points along the way. But Mr. Wu walked all the way down, but found that the test points are closed. “I walked all the way ah, thought off a point is not the next point it, the results are closed. I want to reflect the problem is not too few points not enough, but since the points are closed, the pavilion is still standing there, so people are confused to see the real.”

The nucleic acid testing kiosk on Jian’an East Road has been left unused.

Mr. Wu walked this section of the road, a total of four nucleic acid testing kiosks, are currently abandoned, the earliest abandoned one dating back to June 2022. Back on the east side of Sakura Garden West Street, Mr. Wu finally found a nucleic acid testing site that provides normal services.

According to Mr. Wu’s action track, the reporter opened the nucleic acid testing map of several operators and found that each map showed different situations for the four kiosks that had been abandoned, while for the points that were providing services on Sakura Garden West Street, the maps showed “in the same breath” that they were closed.

In 2022, in the process of optimizing and adjusting the layout of nucleic acid testing sites, the newspaper has been concerned about the nucleic acid testing map for the people’s services. The reporter noted that the current query multiple operators of the nucleic acid testing map, showing information has long been out of date. For the same point, each map gives different information, some show business, some show rest, and some are no longer displayed, the reference value of the nucleic acid map is not high.

Problems

Who is responsible for the “withdrawal of the pavilion”, how to optimize the point

At present, many people through the 12345 citizen service hotline suggested to accelerate the processing of the street has long been abandoned nucleic acid testing kiosks. The question is, who should be responsible for the removal of these nucleic acid testing kiosks? How many kiosks are there in each street area to be processed?

During the visit, the reporter found that there are many types of nucleic acid testing kiosks on the street, some of which are standardized products of testing institutions; some are clearly marked as donated by some caring companies; some of the nucleic acid testing kiosks look relatively simple and belong to the transformation of container houses, which have clear leasers; in 2022, some streets also funded the placement of a number of mini nucleic acid testing kiosks for the convenience of residents in the vicinity of the test. A number of mini nucleic acid testing kiosks to adapt to the small public space in the district.

According to the General Plan for Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection in Beijing, hospitals and third-party testing institutions are encouraged to set up three to five convenient nucleic acid testing sites in each street (town). And in 2022, when the epidemic prevention and control situation was tight, the streets set up a dozen to dozens of nucleic acid testing sites in their districts. For example, in Fengtai District, there were 19 regular nucleic acid testing sites, plus hospitals and separate nucleic acid testing sites for key populations, bringing the total number of sites to 21, and now there are three convenient nucleic acid testing sites in the district. From double digits to single digits, the number of abandoned testing booths to be disposed of in each street is considerable.

For who should be responsible for the removal of abandoned nucleic acid testing kiosks, the reporter asked several streets in several districts, the response was similar – first to clarify the property rights of these kiosks, the streets, communities will actively coordinate the property rights side of the process. But as of press time, many streets also said that the residents strongly reflect the occupation of public space, there are safety hazards, the local is coordinating the relevant parties to actively deal with, but large-scale “removal of the kiosk” work, the streets will have to wait for clear instructions from the district.

At the same time, the public also suggested that the streets are still providing services for the implementation of nucleic acid testing points to further optimize the adjustment, and to the public clearly announced the specific location of the points, so that the “willingness to test” people to run less injustice. From January 5 to January 7, the reporter in the process of visiting statistics, some nucleic acid testing sites in the daily sampling staff in about 50 people, while individual testing sites daily sampling staff has less than 10 people. It is recommended to merge adjacent points, or adjust to the landmark areas within the jurisdiction, to facilitate the “willingness to detect all” people to find more accurate and faster.

Reminder

Avoid lagging behind in related work to cause new chaos

“Used nucleic acid testing booths, one price!” The reporter found that in a used goods trading platform, recently appeared a large number of nucleic acid testing kiosks for sale phenomenon. The price ranges from a few hundred to more than 10,000 yuan depending on the newness and style of the nucleic acid testing kiosk. The sellers describe that the kiosks can be converted to phone booths, office pods, newspaper kiosks, sweet stores, security booths, and so on after purchase. This also gave birth to more related “business”, some sellers specializing in the business of nucleic acid testing kiosk transformation.

The kiosks are being sold and modified on the internet.

The reporter communicated with a seller, the other party did not want to reveal his identity, but clearly said that now the demand for nucleic acid testing in cities across the country has become smaller, both the manufacturers of nucleic acid testing kiosks and nucleic acid testing institutions, there may be a backlog of problems. There is also no clear statement on what to do with the decommissioned nucleic acid testing kiosks on the street. That’s why there is a rush to go through the trading platform for used items for sale.

According to the area combing the seller’s information, the reporter found that there are very few related transactions involving the Beijing area, still in a “budding” state. This also reminds the relevant departments to develop the rules for the removal and recycling of abandoned nucleic acid testing kiosks as soon as possible, so as to avoid new chaos caused by the lag in related work.

Reporter’s note

The city is revitalized, and service initiatives should be “replicated”

Since the continuous optimization and adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control measures, this newspaper has continued to pay attention to the inconvenience caused by the “old rules” in the process of returning to the normal life of the public and resuming work and production in various industries. Is it time to open the gates of the communities forced to close due to the epidemic? Shouldn’t the thermometers in public places be put away? Can the abandoned nucleic acid testing booths be removed?

The whole city is being rejuvenated in an orderly manner, and the work of the relevant departments should be more “reflective” in their thinking. The reporter found during the visit, each district has a community publicity board, do not look down on this board, it is the bridge between the government and the public communication. At this stage there are still many publicity boards still retain the long-outdated epidemic prevention and control requirements tips, which should also be replaced with new, it is time to look forward to the new year through this small window and the people together.

In the new year, the rapid revitalization of the whole city will not only depend on the accurate grasp of the relevant departments on the changes in the various stages of the epidemic prevention and control requirements, but also on the expectation that the relevant departments will be able to keep up with the beat and quickly adjust their work focus. A city is like an ecosystem. Only a normal metabolism can keep the body healthy. Abandoned facilities on the street are cleaned up in time, waste water and gas are discharged to standard, private buildings are removed according to the law, traffic congestion is gradually eased, and old neighborhoods are reasonably renovated …… Only in this way can a city “recover” more quickly and be revitalized.