Tsinghua volunteers take action to help COVID test

Editor's note

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Many Tsinghua students participated in epidemic prevention efforts. Let's meet some student volunteers who devoted their time and efforts to help with the COVID test on campus.

Li Yuanbo: Racing against time to fight COVID

“Every day, at 11: 30 am, we print our daily assignment sheets, then fetch volunteers’ vests and cards, and megaphones before heading out to the nucleic acid testing sites to remain on standby. Once at the sites, within the next 30 minutes, we should finish our lunch, equip ourselves with 6-layer protection suits, undergo basic training and get ready,” says Li Yuanbo, describing his team’s work schedule. 

Voluntary work requires not only one's strong will and adequate physical strength, but also one's coordinative ability and professionalism. 

Yuanbo and his team members are responsible for drafting the daily assignments of all the volunteers, from the basic information of every volunteer’s worksite and contact, to other tasks like charging mobile phones required for validating each sample tested and helping maintain a safe physical distance among those waiting in line.

“It’s our shared wisdom that makes daily testing on campus go smooth,” Yuanbo says. The daily assignment sheets handed over to each of the volunteers might look like a simple checklist of things to be done on a particular day. Still, making them takes a lot of coordination at various levels, he adds.

Li Yuanbo

At the same time, the daily assignment sheets are also the record of the tireless efforts of the unsung heroes under the protective suits to keep the Tsinghua community on campus safe every day. 

“This seemingly dull work also offers us touching and happy moments,” Yuanbo says, “especially when we serve those seniors who give us full understanding and heartfelt gratitude, making the volunteer work all the more worthwhile.”

Sun Bowen: Making every second count 

Discouraged by so many people when you rush to the test location after a class?

Quite bored when you are waiting for the COVID-19 test? 

Sun Bowen, a volunteer at one of the COVID-19 testing sites on campus, has an excellent answer to those questions. He has volunteered to help students with the nucleic acid tests 12 times, mostly taking up tasks that involved him dealing with a large number of students.

The highly repeated process encouraged Sun to reflect on the question: “How could students complete the whole test more briefly and efficiently?”

Sun Bowen

The answer partly came from a simple sticker “say your name, please.” He put this small piece of paper behind his phone, reminding students to tell their names, which aided in checking information explicitly. 

When you get close to Sun, an audio calling for a safe distance will immediately catch your attention. The audio recorded by himself is played in a loop, encouraging students to keep a suitable physical distance.

Recently, the rapidly changing weather made the volunteer work more challenging to complete; hard wind and burning sun alternately influenced everyone’s mood. One day, a small bluetooth speaker playing some relaxed songs appeared and lifted many students’ spirits. Undoubtedly, this is another small act of caring from Sun Bowen. 

Volunteering at the COVID-19 testing sites is a purely procedural task, but for Sun Bowen, when he saw different faces come and go: “I feel needed each time they give thanks to me.”

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TsinghuaRen | Tsinghua volunteers take action to help COVID test

Writers: Xu Jianchao, Liao Yubin

Editors: Sangeet Sangroula, Liu Shutian

Designer: Xia Yifei

Photographer: Zhang Jiaqi