• From 00:00 to 24:00 of May 11, there were no new local confirmed cases and overseas imported cases of COVID-19 in Chongqing, but two new asymptomatic infected patients were imported from Hubei Province.
• Air conditioning and ventilation system should be correctly and carefully used to prevent and control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Medical staffs are highly praised during the news conference, including the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University has sent five medical teams with a total of 209 people in 37 departments to Hubei.

Chongqing- The 72nd press conference of COVID-19’s prevention and control was held on May 12, 2020. At present, Chongqing’s prevention and control of COVID-19 continue to improve, and the normal order of production and life has been accelerated. The medical staff supported Hubei are safely back home now, and their touching stories are shared during the conference. With the approaching of summer, the weather gradually becomes hot, and how to use air conditioning during the epidemic prevention and control has become a concern of many people.

Pay attention to the correct use of air conditioning

The air conditioning and ventilation system is the hub of indoor air exchange, and may also become a vector for the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19. In order to use the air conditioning and ventilation system safely and reasonably, and effectively prevent the spread of the epidemic through the air conditioning and ventilation system, it is necessary to pay attention to the correct use of air conditioning.

Before using the air conditioning and ventilation system, it should be strictly cleaned. It can be disinfected by spraying, soaking or wiping with chlorine (bromine), quaternary ammonium salts, or chlorine dioxide disinfectant. The cleaning effect can only be used after passing the hygienic test. Meanwhile, you should understand the ventilation method of the air conditioner at home and ensure the fresh air volume. When the air conditioning and ventilation system is an all-air system, the return air system should be turned off and start the full fresh air system. When the air conditioning and ventilation system is the fan coil unit with the full air system, it should be ensured that the fresh air is taken directly from the outside, forbidding the air is taken from the machine room, corridor, to ensure the exhaust system must be operated normally. For large-deep rooms, it should ensure the ventilation of the internal area, and the fresh air system works throughout the day. When the air conditioning and ventilation system is the fan coil unit without the full air system, such as the residential split-type air conditioner, you should open the door or windows to enhance air circulation. Moreover, it is recommended to turn off the humidification function of the air conditioning and ventilation system.

Air-conditioning management must be strengthened, and the fresh air intake of the air-conditioning and its surrounding environment must be clean to ensure that the fresh air is not polluted. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all people should clean, disinfect, or replace components of the central air-conditioning system in operation, including cooling towers, filters, purifiers, ventilator scoop, air handling units, cool coil, heaters/humidifier, condensate plates, and more.

If there were any suspected cases or asymptomatic cases were found, the air conditioning and ventilation system should be stopped immediately. During the epidemic, indoor air circulation should be strengthened, and natural ventilation should be adopted as much as possible. Under the condition that the outdoor air is clean and safe, open the doors and windows for ventilation. In the case of insufficient natural ventilation, you can use tools such as electric fans to actively increase the amount of ventilation.

Heros back: Five medical teams from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University

The conference pays homage to those medical staff who supported Hubei during the  COVID-19 pandemic, among them are the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, which has sent five medical teams with a total of 209 people to Hubei. Altogether there were 40 doctors and 120 nurses in 37 departments, including intensive care unit, infection, respiratory, emergency, anesthesiology, psychology, traditional Chinese medicine, and more.

Before the departing of the eighth medical team, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University prepared 9.327 tons of 89 kinds of supplies, including life supplies, protective materials, medicines, and medical equipment overnight, providing a strong material guarantee for the medical team.

After arriving in Wuhan, the medical team found that some materials and supplies are insufficient. The relevant medical departments in Hubei and Chongqing had actively resolved this problem. For example, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University had delivered 14 bathes of materials and supplies to frontline medical teams. In addition, the Chongqing Municipal Health Commission and the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University urgently purchased medical equipment four times, which worth 1.149 million yuan, and delivered it to the frontline medical team in batches. Meanwhile, the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government also distributed 18 batches of supplies while the Wuhan NO.1 Hospital distributed 19 batches of supplies.

One-third of medical teams from Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital is the post-90s

Another medical team is a group of post-90s. As a designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital had zeroed confirmed cases on March 11 this year, with accumulatively treated 248 confirmed cases in 10 districts and counties in northeastern Chongqing.

Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital achieved the first one for six times during the pandemic prevention and control work in Chongqing. The hospital received and treated the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Chongqing. Also, the first confirmed case, as well as the first critical case, had been cured of this hospital. Meanwhile, it is the first hospital to perform the cesarean section for a COVID-19 pregnant mom in Chongqing and treated the youngest patient (7 months) in Chongqing. In addition, the hospital has the most number of patients admitted and the most number of cured and discharged patients in Chongqing. Besides, there was no medical staff infected by COVID-19.

In order to fight against COVID-19, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital immediately transformed a rehabilitation hospital into a specialized hospital. It took only 8 hours to complete the distributary patients settled down in the rehabilitation hospital under its jurisdiction and completed the transformation of the ward of the rehabilitation hospital into an infectious disease hospital in only 36 hours, with 202 emergency wards with 550 beds for patients. At the same time, the hospital quickly set up a treatment expert group, ward treatment group, and an MDT expert team to start the emergency plan and prevention and control diagnosis and treatment plan for the first time.

Moreover, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital actively carried out treatment of psychology, nutrition, and rehabilitation, with good effects of treatment. The discharge rate and cure rate of Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital are ten percentage points higher than that of Chongqing and 30 percentage points higher than that of non-Wuhan areas in China.

During the epidemic, the post-90s also played an important role. There were 1,083 medical staff members who had participated in COVID-19 treatment, with 364 post-90s medical personnel (including 95 doctors and 269 nurses), accounting for 33.6% of the total number of anti-epidemic medical personnel in the hospital.

The most rigorous assessment in history to guarantee the safety of anti-epidemic medical staff

Nurses also played a very important role in the treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the front line, nurses stay in the concentrated areas of quarantine wards, which have the closest contact with patients for the longest time. They are the groups for checking patients’ conditions while they are also in charge of basic nursing, life care, mental care, wards disinfection, and discharge inspection, and more.

Moreover, nurses are profession and all-around, with difficult, intensive, and risky work. With heavy protective clothing, they will do not only basic care, such as helping patients drink or eat but also implement high-risk professional care, such as tracheostomy care, breathing machine management, and ECMO care.

In addition to disease care, psychological care also played a big role during the epidemic, which is empathy. Helping patients mentally and psychologically can help them recover better and more effectively.

After arriving in Xiaogan, all nurses were retrained and reassessed about protective clothing. Only after passing the assessment can they be put on the job. Even a hair exposed in the assessment must be stopped and redone. This was regarded as the most rigorous assessment in history. Besides, the medical team distributed more than 100 nurses from different departments and hospitals into different positions in one day, and every nurse had cooperated with each other pretty well, with no adverse event occurred.