On January 28, the Spring Festival travel rush of 2021 kicked off. Unlike the Spring Festival travel rush in previous years, according to relevant policies like the Notice on Orderly Carrying out Nucleic Acid Testing for Travelers during the Spring Festival Travel Rush issued by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Comprehensive Group of the State Council in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak, some people returning to their hometown during this year's Spring Festival travel rush are required to provide a negative nucleic acid testing (NAT) result report obtained within seven days.

　　In response to the increased demand for NAT of those people, how does the designated NAT organization in Sichuan improve the timeliness and convenience of testing? On January 27, the reporter conducted a site visit.

　　On-site guidance

　　Signs on the wall to ensure rapid and orderly testing

　　"Please register on the registration machine first for testing, and then go inside after obtaining a note with a bar code printed on it..." On the afternoon of January 27, at the designated registration site of Chengdu Second People's Hospital, two volunteers were offering people guidance to improve the testing efficiency and keep order.

　　According to the testing process of the hospital, after registration, people only have to scan the bar code on the check-in machine, and then they can queue up for the testing. On that day, there were more than 20 people lining up for testing in an orderly manner. "Recently, an average of 1,000 people come to the hospital for NAT every day." On-site medical staff said, "Sampling can be done in 5 to 10 minutes, and the NAT report is available the next day at the latest."

　　The hospitals in other places also offer guidance to relevant personnel to improve the testing efficiency and keep order. Also on the afternoon of January 27, at the designated NAT site of Luzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, seven people were lining up for testing under the guidance of volunteers. According to the testing process instruction on the wall, people coming for testing only have to register their information and print the bar code at the relevant registration window, and then wait in line for sampling at the sampling window.

　　In the Outpatient Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, also located in Luzhou, the staff at the information desk introduced that people coming for NAT are required to have their health code and their body temperature checked, and then register at the relevant window for NAT. On the WeChat official account of the hospital, a quick service window for online appointments for NAT has been launched.

　　In Deyang, the People's Hospital of Deyang City has set up a centralized sampling site for NAT in an open space on the right of its outpatient building.

　　"Please show your ID card, come here for testing application and certificate issuance..." Under the guidance of the on-site medical staff, Zhao Qiyong, a migrant worker in Deyang, only spent five minutes in printing the bar code with his ID card, collecting the sampling tube, and sampling. "It is not as cumbersome or time-consuming as I thought, nor is it crowded or noisy."

　　Extend service time and assign more staff

　　Meet the public demand to the greatest extent

　　In addition to improving the timeliness of testing, many designated NAT organizations have also extended their service hours.

　　"I was told that I can get the report at night, which means I can return home soon." At 8:00 p.m. on January 27, the migrant worker Zhang Wenping decided to immediately return to her hometown in rural areas of Panzhihua from Yiwu, Zhejiang as soon as she obtained her NAT report. Since January 22, to facilitate the people's admission to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment and return to their hometown, the Laboratory Department of Panzhihua Central Hospital has permitted whole-day NAT services.

　　Although it was late at night, masses of people waited at the sampling site at the entrance of the Emergency Department of the hospital.

　　Li Jing, Director of the Laboratory Department of the hospital, said that the report can be obtained within 4 to 6 hours after sampling, and even within 2 to 4 hours for febrile emergency patients, greatly saving people from waiting. "Since yesterday, the number of people coming for testing has increased significantly. To ensure the timeliness of NAT reports, we have arranged a 24-hour shift of 19 testers."

　　During the interview, the reporter found that testing organizations in many places have assigned more staff and extended their service hours. In the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, on-site medical staff said that there are more people coming for testing in the morning, so two testing groups are set up at each testing site; while the number of people testing in the afternoon is relatively small, so only one group is needed.

　　"Sampling hours on weekdays last from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. On weekends, samples are only taken in the morning so that the testing department can issue the test report on the same day." He Shaoping, a staff member of the Laboratory Department in the People's Hospital of Deyang City, introduced that as the Spring Festival approaches, it is expected to see a rise in the number of people coming for testing in the next few days. As a response, the hospital will extend the service time and assign more medical staff. "With the joint efforts of the entire hospital, we can meet the testing needs of tens of thousands of people."