Shanghai citizens volunteer in mask production to combat coronavirus outbreak
By Chen
Shasha
27-year-old
Zhou Wenjia, hearing-impaired, has been on the go all day to enroll volunteers for
a mask production firm located in Songjiang district of Shanghai. Amid the
coronavirus outbreak, face masks have emerged as a basic necessity among the
public.
As many
of the workers returned to their native hometown to spend the Spring Festival
break, some mask producers, which had to start production before the holiday
ended, are struggling to meet the demands. Samaritan of Shanghai decided to
fill this void and joined as volunteers at the production line.
“About
100 people would like to add me on WeChat every day, hoping to get enrolled as
volunteers. People really want to help,” Zhou Wenjia told the Global Times.
“Through
this, I can feel that people are all united to do what they can to win this
battle against the coronavirus epidemic. No matter how hard it is, it’s worth
it,” Zhou Wenjia said.
She
works for a Shanghai-based charitable organization, Symphony Charity &
Social Development Center (SCSD), which plans to arrange 20 volunteers to join
the night shift in the factory starting from January 29 to February 8.
Zhou
Rong, deputy director of SCSD told Global Times a total of 120 volunteers have
joined the production as of Monday.
Aged
from 18 to 60 years old, these volunteers come from different walks of like,
including white-collar workers, veterans, housewives, university students, and
retirees. According to Zhou, the only prerequisite is all the applicants should
be in good health and shouldn’t have been out of the city in the last 14 days.
The
shift is from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am, during which their primary tasks include
running quality checks, counting and then packing them in carton boxes.
Wang
Wenkang, 44, a salesperson at a chemical industry, is one of the volunteers. “The
first night shift made me realize how hard the workers in the production line
work,” Wang told the Global Times. “But my passion alleviated the work fatigue.”
“During
this crucial time, everybody, from the government to individuals, is doing his bit
to fight the epidemic, I have to do something,” he said.
According
to Wang, volunteers have to pass temperature screenings before they are let
into the factory. They are only allowed to work on the line after completing
basic training, wearing protective suits, and going through disinfection.
Zhou
Rong told Global Times 20 volunteers can produce around 300,000 masks per
night. Considering that volunteers are doing the work without payment, SCSD
bought commercial insurance for them. Moreover, their 12-hour charity service
will be formally recognized by the city’s official volunteer association,
Shanghai Volunteer.
Shanghai
Shenghui Plastic Package in the Fengxian district of Shanghai manufactures N95
masks for an international brand. It resumed production on January 25, the
first day of Chinese Lunar New Year.
Volunteers
started joining from January 27 onwards, Lu Lili, an HR official at the company
told the Global Times. From January 27 to 29, the company has welcomed 30 to 50
volunteers every day, Lu said. Working in shifts from 8 am to 4:30 pm, they are
mainly assigned to packaging.
Most of
their volunteers are management professionals at the Shanghai Hangzhou Bay
Economic and Technological Development Co., Ltd. Besides, professionals from
other companies also joined the workforce.
Qian Li,
a department head at the company told the Global Times her company dispatched
about 120 people to the factory to help on the production line for free.
“Working
on the production line is really a physical challenge to our office workers,”
Qian said, adding that she and two other volunteers could only handle nine
boxes of masks in one morning shift. But she was proud that they can contribute
something during this nationwide combat against coronavirus epidemic.
“In
order not to increase the burden on the company, our volunteers left the
factory as soon as we finished our work,” Qian said.
According
to Lu, the company could only make 40,000 to 50,000 masks every day at the very
beginning. However, as more people joined in, its current daily production
capacity has reached above 100,000.
Lu said
the company offered a certain amount of payment to some volunteers to express
their gratitude, but some refused to accept it.
Currently,
domestic mask producers have resumed 60 percent of its production capacity, Cao
Xuejun, a senior official at the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology said at a press conference Sunday, February 2. The total output
topped 10 million pieces daily. China is also seeking for imports to meet the
surging demand in the face of the ongoing epidemic.
Source:Global Times
On January 27, 2020, in Shanghai,
citizens lined up to buy masks in a pharmacy in Pudong New Area. (Photo by Wang
Gang from People’s Daily Online)
Shanghai citizens volunteer in mask production to combat coronavirus outbreak
Reviewed by PEOPLES MAIL
on
12:25
Rating:
No comments: