As of 8 a.m. on January 31, the new coronavirus pneumonia is still fermenting - except for the cities in Hubei Province, the most serious cities have 55 new confirmed cases, with a total of 227 cases, not only far exceeding Beijing and Shanghai, but also surpassing Chongqing (206 cases), which is close to Hubei, with a large population and a vast geographical area, ranking sixth in the country - you may not necessarily think that this city is , Wenzhou , thousands of miles away from Wuhan.
So why, will Wenzhou become a hard-hit area of the epidemic this time?
Is Hubei the "second hometown" of Wenzhou people?
First of all, many people may not understand that Wenzhou is actually one of the most densely populated areas in the country. Wenzhou has a permanent population of 9.25 million, ranking second in Zhejiang Province, second only to Hangzhou's 9.8 million. The population density is 774 people per square kilometer, 5.5 times that of the country and 1.4 times that of the province. In the , the highest population density in Lucheng District, it reached 4399 people per square kilometer.
plus the terrain characteristics of Zhejiang Province's "seven mountains, two waters and one branch of fields", nearly ten million Wenzhou's population is concentrated in a small number of plains along the eastern coast, so the actual population density is far greater than the statistical data.
On the other hand, after the reform and opening up, Wenzhou people were famous for their enthusiasm for joining together to do business. It is reported that there are more than 2 million Wenzhou businessmen all over the world, of which more than 200,000 are in Hubei, mainly concentrated in Wuhan. Therefore, many Wenzhou businessmen call Hubei or Wuhan the "second hometown".
htmlOn January 29, Wenzhou City Deputy Mayor Tang Xiaoshu said at a press conference that the surge in the number of confirmed cases is related to the large base of people returning to Wenzhou in Wuhan: "There are 180,000 Wenzhou people who do business, school and work in Wuhan."Tang Xiaoshu said: "As of now, Wenzhou has found 33,000 people returning to Wenzhou, which is proportional to the Wenzhou incidence curve and the climax of people returning to Wenzhou. The task of blocking the source is very heavy. After Wuhan was locked down, 18,800 people still arrived in Wenzhou from January 23 to 27, five days from January 23 to 27, with an average of more than 3,600 people a day. "
A friend who is engaged in clothing business in Wuhan told the First Financial reporter that Wenzhou people in Wuhan do business mainly. If they have plans to go home for the New Year, they usually do not wait for the statutory holiday, but return to Wenzhou several days in advance to avoid the Spring Festival travel rush. Since the epidemic had not yet fully broken out a week before the Spring Festival, there was no obstacle to returning to Warmth from Wuhan, and there was no need to take the temperature. Perhaps this is one of the important reasons for the rapid outbreak of the epidemic in Wenzhou after the Spring Festival.
The more frequent and more relationships, the higher the risk
Wenzhou businessmen love to join in groups. This is an open secret and one of the factors that their career is successful. Since Wenzhou has been remote, inconvenient transportation, complex dialects, and not large in ancient times, it is easy for every county town and township to form a typical "acquaintance society". In the "acquaintance society", people are linked together by a huge and close network of relationships. Because they may be related to their own interests at any time, the relationship between people is particularly important. Everyone will work hard to maintain it. The relationship between family and relatives is undoubtedly the top priority - group dinners, New Year greetings, and visiting each other around the Spring Festival are the core means to maintain this "human affection" relationship.
Obviously, most of the time, grouping is an advantage and can complement each other's length. But in the epidemic prevention stage, this is a huge hidden danger.
Just imagine, usually, a married middle-aged man in Wenzhou only had to attend at least four dinners during the Chinese New Year, namely, father-in-law, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. This does not count visiting distant relatives, relatives and friends who may be in the neighboring county, weddings of children, full moon banquets, relocation of new homes, etc. According to local customs in Wenzhou, all of the above must be served with wine and dinner. If you are absent for no reason, your relatives will be "dark on their faces".
In addition, it is an indispensable process to wish every elder a New Year after the holiday. After a rough calculation, after the entire process, a middle-aged man in Wenzhou would come into contact with at least 50 relatives during the Chinese New Year. It can be imagined that if one of them is a virus-infected person, the risk of others being infected will be high and how difficult it will bring to epidemic prevention work.
Citizens had insufficient awareness of epidemic prevention
According to the personal experience of the First Financial reporter, on the eve of the Spring Festival, on the eve of the Spring Festival, no epidemic prevention measures were seen in a county under Wenzhou, and dinners and parties were also carried out as usual. There were people coming and going on the streets, and no one was seen wearing masks.
htmlOn January 25 and 26, when the number of confirmed cases in Wenzhou began to soar, the local county government closed most public places and announced the cancellation of all large-scale cultural, sports, gatherings and other activities.Despite this, the citizens' awareness of epidemic prevention was still insufficient at that time. A reporter from the First Financial Daily went out to the street on the 27th to find that less than 50% of the people wearing masks were found, and the rushing vegetable market was also open as usual. There were no measures such as control or temperature measurement. Only many well-known fast food brand chain stores still in business all brought medical protective masks.
According to a friend around him, although the mahjong room and other public entertainment venues were banned from business on the 26th, some mahjong rooms still secretly opened their doors. According to him, he found that the back door of a mahjong room was open. When he went in, he found that 6 to 7 people gathered in a mahjong room of about 10 square meters, and nearly half of them did not wear masks. Later, the mahjong room was forced to close its business due to being reported.
htmlOn January 29, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Wenzhou exceeded 100. The local county government finally stepped up its prevention of the vegetable market, leaving only the next entrance and exit, and arranged for personnel to take their temperature. That night, the Wenzhou government announced the closure of 14 highway exits.On the same day, the Public Security Bureau of Yueqing City, Wenzhou disclosed that "three citizens in the city who did not cooperate with the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic were all sentenced to administrative detention." The reason is that three people returning from Hubei left their homes to go to public places to move during the observation period, bringing risks of epidemic prevention and control.
htmlOn January 30, a reporter from the First Financial Daily noticed that entrances and exits were arranged for people to control entrances and exits and take temperatures in all large and small areas of the county, and more than 95% of people on the street wore masks.As of 9:30 am on January 31, Wenzhou has confirmed 227 cases, 14 severe cases, and 7 cases have been cured and discharged from hospital, with no deaths yet.
The people of Wenzhou are working hard to fight against the virus on the power to survive, and hope that the turning point of the epidemic will come as soon as possible.
(Source: First Financial Daily)
