There is a very apt metaphor for the plague.
When you wake up in the morning and see a snowflake falling through the window, the world outside is often filled with snow.
For the people of Taiyuan Prefecture, their lives have completely changed in just a few days.
There are no vendors selling enthusiastically, no salesmen carrying loads, and no newsboys holding newspapers.
Many shops on both sides of the street were closed. Only shops selling daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt, and pharmacies, had long queues outside their doors.
All those waiting in line wore masks, and there were two arms’ distance between people. No one dared to jump in line.
The reason is very simple. The government officials and police officers standing in front of the store are scanning the team with sharp eyes.
"Give in, give in!"
The shouts came from across the street. Two medical staff wearing white uniforms and hospital armbands walked out of the residential area carrying a stretcher and walked quickly towards the hospital's open trolley.
A dying young man lay on the stretcher. His hands and feet were covered with lumps and black spots, his eyes were red, and pink foam remained at the corners of his mouth.
"Hoho——"
The man was unconscious and raised his arms in vain to ask for help from the crowd across the street. However, the next second, he coughed violently, spitting out a lot of blood foam from his mouth, and huddled up.
After a while, the eyelids trembled up and down and closed completely.
The two medical staff paused and pressed the man's neck with thick gloves. After confirming that there was no response, they decisively took out a large waterproof oil paper bag from the open-top truck.
A hemp rope was passed through the dead man's neck and under his thighs. Without touching the man, he was connected to the hemp rope and put into an oil paper bag. And tie the mouth of the oil paper bag.
He moves skillfully, as if a butcher is loading meat for his customers.
"Da Lang!"
An elderly couple chased them out of the residential area. Their voices were extremely miserable, and they threw themselves at the oil paper bag on the ground. "Da Lang, how can we live if you die? Take us away with you, Da Lang!"
But before he touched the oiled paper bag, he was held up by the yamen servant with a fire stick.
The medical staff and government servants on the side persuaded the elderly couple to leave, and asked them to get on another flatbed carriage and drive to the isolation ward outside the city.
After the vehicle left, a government official approached and said loudly: "Have you seen it? The deceased just ignored the epidemic prevention regulations four days ago and secretly had a drinking party with several friends.
And two days later, I learned that one of the friends at the party was diagnosed with plague, but he still concealed it.
The final result was that not only did he get sick and die, but his parents, brothers and sisters who were at home with him also became close contacts and were all at risk of contracting the plague!
You can deceive the yamen, yamen servants, and officials for a while, but you can't deceive the plague!
If you report any situation in a timely manner, you are responsible for yourself, your relatives, friends, and neighbors! "
The hoarse shouting, repeated countless times, echoed in the streets.
"cough--"
In the queue, someone couldn't help covering his mouth and coughing softly.
The people queuing up in front and behind him all changed their expressions and immediately gave way, clearing a circle.
"I'm not, I didn't!"
The coughing man hurriedly explained, but he still couldn't stop the government officials from pulling him out of the team and dragging him to the cart. Take off the mask and check if there is any blood droplets on it.
Similar situations are occurring in various urban areas in Taiyuan Prefecture.
In the temporary laboratory set up in the prefect's mansion, He Fanshuang, who hurried to Taiyuan, saw Li Ang with red eyes.
"These are the soil samples from various places collected by the Academy's Dongjun Tower, and they are all brought to you."
He Fanshuang carefully looked at the bloodshot eyes in Li Ang's eyes, frowned and asked, "How long have you not slept?"
"It's not bad. I just slept in the early morning. Now I can sleep for three hours a day."
Li Ang yawned, without explaining that he was actually relying on Mo Si to hold on.
The process of refining streptomycin was still not going smoothly, so Li Ang had to ask the Academy to send some soil samples collected from special locations (such as Shiwan Barren Mountains and Endless Sea Islands) through Chrysanthemum spp., in an attempt to find usable Streptomyces.
"It's three hours, but sleeping and waking up, half asleep and half awake, two hours of actual rest in a day may not be enough."
Qiu Feng, who was wearing a white coat and goggles on the side, exposed Li Ang's lie angrily and reached out to take the heavy iron box handed by He Fanshuang, "Fan Shuang, please advise him, if he continues to endure like this, he will get sick even if he doesn't get sick." Suffer to death."
"I can't persuade him. The next time you use Chi Chi Chong, just ask Cui Qiao who is still in Chang'an to answer the call. He will still listen."
He Fanshuang shook his head, "How is the situation in the city?"
"...To be honest, it sucks."
Li Ang was silent for a moment and said: "The plague strikes too quickly and violently. Whether it is bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, or septicemic plague, patients will die soon after showing symptoms.
I asked newspapers and periodicals in the city to publish information about the plague every day to popularize science about the dangers, transmission routes, and prevention methods of the plague.
In addition to the dead people carried out from residential areas and suspected patients taken out every day,
The people of Taiyuan finally understood the horror of the plague. Unlike at first, they thought it was just an ordinary, small-scale disease similar to autumn malaria.
However, it is one thing for people to understand the dangers of a disease, and another thing to take chances. "
Li Ang smiled bitterly and said to He Fanshuang: "I have divided the isolation ward into several levels, corresponding to severe patients, mild patients, suspected patients, epidemic prevention patients, and non-plague patients.
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Each ward corresponds to different levels of medical conditions.
If everything goes according to my plan, the chain of human-to-human transmission can be cut off immediately.
But as far as the people are concerned, they only know that if a person is taken away for isolation, there is a high probability that he will not be able to come back. Separation in life is farewell in death.
So much so that in order to prevent themselves or their family members from being taken away and quarantined, they came up with various ways to resist the government officials.
For example, children are allowed to serve as sentinels in the streets and alleys. Whenever a government official who visits door-to-door appears, they will whistle to notify the neighbors.
Let people hide their coughing patients in closets, water tanks, or under bed boards.
Taking the neighborhood as a unit, they deceived the government officials and did not allow them to take away the patients, and at the same time, they did not allow themselves to be taken away for isolation. "
"..."
He Fanshuang commented: "Hidden one's ears and stole one's bell."
"It's human nature."
Li Ang shook his head and said: "If a patient at home dies, some people will hide or abandon the body.
For example, they would throw the corpse on the road, on the roof, in the ditch, or hide it in a haystack.
They feel that this way they do not need to go to the isolation ward.
They would even smash the faces of the corpses with rocks so that the government officials could not identify the plague victims, making it impossible to trace the families of the deceased. "
