Commune leaders 'accept criticism' for applying stricter epidemic prevention measures than prescribed

Many commune leaders even "accept criticism" for applying stricter anti-epidemic measures than prescribed. These efforts have brought about many positive results, as most of the rare communes in green zones are now concentrated in mountainous districts.

Propaganda efforts

For over a month now, the sound of loudspeakers has been blaring in every corner of Cha Nga border village, My Ly commune (Ky Son). This is the most remote village in My Ly commune, and also one of the most remote villages in Nghe An province. This village has no electricity or phone signal, so people have almost no access to information to prevent the epidemic. Mobile radio is therefore the only communication channel to bring information to the people.

Medical staff in the highlands on their way to the village to promote epidemic prevention. Photo: Tien Hung

Under the drizzle, plus the bone-chilling cold of the upper Lam River, a group of young cadres of My Ly commune still tirelessly rode motorbikes to every village and hamlet in an effort to spread propaganda. The road from My Ly commune headquarters to Cha Nga village is only about 20 km, but due to the rugged and slippery soil and rocks, it took the group nearly 3 hours to "crawl" their motorbikes to the village.

Propaganda content in addition to the epidemic prevention measures put forth by the Government,“5K” recommendationAccording to the Ministry of Health, My Ly commune also focuses on calling on people to limit the organization of funerals, weddings and entertainment activities.

“For people here, after Tet, they often organize large gatherings. The Mong people also often organize weddings at the beginning of the year. Thanks to propaganda efforts, people have limited it a lot, and if they do organize, very few people participate and comply with epidemic prevention regulations,” said Mr. Luong Van Bay - Chairman of the People's Committee of My Ly commune, adding that out of 12 villages in the commune, 9 still do not have electricity, and 1 village just got electricity a few days before Tet. Therefore, mobile radio is a very important propaganda channel.

Thanks to strict and rigorous epidemic prevention measures, My Ly commune has only recorded 6 cases of Covid-19 infection in the past 3 months. Notably, these 6 cases were promptly isolated and treated, with no secondary cases spreading to the community.

“We still maintain the regulation that people coming from other regions must first go to the health station to declare and get tested. These 6 cases are mainly teachers returning home for Tet and students studying in Vinh City. They were detected right after arriving in the commune so that the spread could not be prevented,” said Mr. Bay. My Ly commune has a large number of workers who work far away and return home for Tet. However, due to strong propaganda, people basically complied with declaring and getting tested as soon as they returned home.

A common sight in mountainous districts these days. Photo: Tien Hung

Similar to My Ly commune, but these days, the sound of mobile loudspeakers is broadcast continuously throughout every village in Huu Kiem commune. Although located next to Highway 7 and bordering Muong Xen town, with a large number of people passing by, during the Lunar New Year holiday until now, Huu Kiem commune has only recorded 26 F0 cases. Most of the infected cases are students studying in Muong Xen town. Major Nguyen Van Truong - Head of Huu Kiem commune police said that this result was partly due to "tireless" propaganda work over a long period of time.

Accordingly, the commune was divided into 3 groups, each group of about 5-7 people ran around the villages to do mobile propaganda. The members of the group were commune officials, mainly police, military, and youth union. Along the way, if they saw people not wearing masks, the propaganda group would stop to remind them and give out free masks. In addition, the group also regularly "went to every alley, knocked on every door" to talk directly, and mobilize people not to organize funerals or gather in large numbers.

“We follow the strategy of ‘slow and steady wins the race’. Every day, the propaganda teams will go to all the villages twice. Since Tet, the teams have not missed a single day. With the same route and the same propaganda content prepared by the commune. If we do a lot of propaganda, the people will understand. In addition to mobile broadcasting, fixed loudspeakers in the villages are also played continuously,” Major Truong added.

Not only My Ly and Huu Kiem, a leader of the People's Committee of Ky Son district said that most communes in the district are still persistently propagating via mobile radio to people to prevent the epidemic. "Although such mobile propaganda is quite difficult for the staff because of the difficult roads, it is highly effective. For the highlands, this is the most useful propaganda channel," he said.

Rare green areas

Remind people then give out free masks. Photo: Tien Hung

As of February 20, Nghe An province has recorded nearly 50,000 Covid-19 infections. The whole province has 460 communes, wards and towns, of which 168 communes and wards are red zones; 114 communes are orange zones; 117 communes are yellow zones and only 61 communes are green zones, new normal zones. Notably, most of the communes in green zones and yellow zones are concentrated in mountainous districts. As for lowland localities such as Vinh City, Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu, Nam Dan... There is not a single commune in green zones, but most of them are red zones.

According to the report of the Center for Disease Control of Nghe An province, the districts with the fewest infections currently include Con Cuong (862 F0), Ky Son (819 F0), and Tuong Duong (664 F0). Meanwhile, in Vinh City, from June 13 to now, nearly 12,000 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded. In the past few days, Vinh City has detected an average of 700 to nearly 1,000 F0 cases per day. This is even larger than the mountainous districts over the past 2 years. Vinh City has a population size only 4 times that of Tuong Duong district, but the number of F0 cases is nearly 20 times that of this district. Similarly, localities such as Quynh Luu have also exceeded the threshold of 1,000 F0 cases recorded in 1 day...

Mr. Vy Xuan Chien - Director of Tuong Duong District Medical Center said that not only is the locality with the least number of F0 cases in the province, but currently the area has not recorded any deaths due to Covid-19.

To maintain the current green zone, before the Lunar New Year, localities in Tuong Duong district have introduced many strict and tight solutions to prevent the epidemic because they believe that the number of workers returning home for Tet is large, causing a high risk of spreading the epidemic. Many commune leaders even affirmed that they accept criticism for introducing stricter epidemic prevention measures than the regulations of the Ministry of Health to ensure local safety.

A propaganda team stopped in the center of the village to broadcast. Photo: Tien Hung

Accordingly, most communes in the highlands in general and Tuong Duong district in particular require people returning to their hometowns for Tet or officials returning to work after Tet must go to the health station to declare and get tested. Those who do not comply will be strictly handled. After declaring, depending on which region each case comes from, the commune will decide to send them to centralized quarantine or allow them to quarantine and monitor their health at home. To have a centralized quarantine location, many communes also call on people to contribute to the forest to cut bamboo and build temporary shelters. Not only the efforts of the government, thanks to extensive propaganda, the awareness of people in the highlands in epidemic prevention work is also very high. If they discover that their neighbors are not complying, many people will proactively report to the government for timely measures.

“Up to now, we have not changed our epidemic prevention strategy. We are still implementing strict measures like the first day. In particular, the F1 tracing work is still being carried out strictly, with the determination not to let high-risk people escape into the community,” Mr. Vy Xuan Chien added.

Meanwhile, many localities in the lowlands have now stopped tracing F1 cases. Subjective psychology is not only present among the people but also among local officials and leaders.

Regarding epidemic prevention, whenever the mountainous districts are mentioned, the industry leaders feel secure. “The mountainous districts are very responsible in epidemic prevention. Meanwhile, many lowland localities are negligent and subjective. The results are clear,” subjective psychology is very dangerous. Because the high number of infections will cause the risk of overloading the health system.

When the health system is overloaded, patients who do not receive timely medical care can quickly become seriously ill and die. On the other hand, the large number of infections causes incorrect patient stratification, leading to the phenomenon of "virtual overload" - that is, those who are seriously ill and need treatment do not receive medical support, while those who are less ill receive early medical care. In particular, the number of deaths in Nghe An in recent days has shown signs of increasing. There were even 7 deaths due to Covid-19 in one day.

Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of Department of Health