Hundreds, if not thousands, of Nanjingers have in the past few days been receiving an SMS alerting them that their travels may have crossed the path of a COVID-positive case. City authorities are keen to pass the message on; these messages are not spam.
With the numbers of COVID cases locally once again creeping up as they are in many parts, so vigilance is back on the agenda. More tests, more mask wearing and now, more messages.
The SMS in question relates specifically to the period from 15-20 November, and (theoretically) will only be sent to those who have been in the vicinity of two key areas in Nanjing.
Firstly, that would be those who have used Metro Line 3, and specifically to or from Liuzhou Dong Lu Metro station in Jiangbei New Area. The other is downtown; the Panda Valley Financial Technology Centre (熊猫万谷金融科技中心) near the junction of Zhongshan Dong Lu and Longpan Lu.
To paraphrase the Chinese-only message, its contents state that according to big-data analysis, the recipient may have had direct or indirect contact with a COVID-infected person. The recipient should conduct a series of five COVID tests beginning immediately, and on the following 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th days. The recipient should also wear a mask and avoid taking public transport.
For readers of The Nanjinger who have received such a message and have indeed been to one of the two aforementioned places within the specified time period, the advice from our city’s Epidemic Prevention & Control Headquarters is as follows.
Try to avoid going out, do not participate in gathering activities. If going out is absolutely necessary, wear a mask and socially distance by more than 1 metre, reduce chatting and perform timely disinfection of hands.
For anyone who does develop a fever, sore throat, dry cough and other symptoms, they should go to the nearest fever clinic and avoid taking public transport on the way.
For those who were not in either of the locales during the specified period, but have received the message anyway, don’t panic and remember that mistakes do happen. Even China’s anti-COVID efforts are not infallible.
Therefore, the instructions therein can probably be safely ignored, other than in the case that one’s health code subsequently turns yellow.
For non-Chinese readers, the message is easy to spot. Just look for “1、2、3、5、7”, while the full contents of the message can be viewed in this article by Nanjing Daily.
But things change fast in the world of Dynamic-Zero-Covid China. Now, with the bulk of the Nanjing populace once again undergoing COVID tests every day, the issue of the instructions in the SMS becomes really rather moot.
