Chapter 36 Dilemma

Conference room of the gymnasium command center.

Senior members of the command center were holding a secret meeting with a nervous look. The meeting was so urgent that senior provincial and municipal officials who were originally scheduled to attend the press conference had to cancel their itinerary. The reason was very simple - another patient with pneumoplague appeared in Zhongjiang City!

The meeting was first reported by Han Qiang, director of Zhongjiang Municipal Health Bureau. Han Qiang looked very haggard. He was also a person who had not been close to his eyes for several days and nights. However, the situation was urgent, so he could only report it with force:

"...The second pneumoplague patient in our city is Chen Li, who is 38 years old this year. He is from Yunyang City, Guihai Province. Yesterday afternoon, Chen Li suddenly developed symptoms such as fever and cough. Because the high fever does not go away, Chen Li's relatives in the city accompanied Chen Li to the First People's Hospital for treatment. Just the day before yesterday, we issued a notice to all hospitals in the city-all patients with fever and cough will have blood tests first. As a result, Chen Li's serum examination found pneumoplague bacteria. Now Chen Li and her family have been sent to the isolation area of ​​the hot spring center."

Plague patients appeared in Zhongjiang City again! Everyone in the conference room felt nervous - has the pneumococcal plague spread in full swing? The Black Death, which had been silent for decades, is about to break out on a large scale in Zhongjiang City?

After a long time, Governor Qin tightened his face and asked, "Have you found the source of infection?"

Gao Fei said: "Last afternoon, we immediately organized police to investigate the news overnight. Chen Li is from Yunyang City, Guihai Province. We first ruled out the possibility of her being infected with bacteria in the local area. She took a passenger bus to Zhongjiang City on the morning of the 15th. After arriving in Zhongjiang City, she has been living at a relative's house and has basically never left the house. Therefore, the possibility of infection with bacteria in this city can be basically eliminated. Finally, we suspect that Chen Li may be infected with bacteria in the bus. Because this bus has been from time to time

The routes are very close to the itinerary of Li Xiaochuan, the first plague patient in the city. In order to prove it, we took Chen Li and Li Xiaochuan photos to various long-distance passenger stations overnight to find the bus they were on. Finally, we found the driver and ticket conductor of the bus at 1 a.m. today. Through the photo identification, the ticket conductor has confirmed that Chen Li and Li Xiaochuan did come to Zhongjiang City on the morning of the 15th. Now we can confirm that Li Xiaochuan is the one who transmitted the plague bacteria to Chen Li."

"How many people were sitting on this bus at that time? Did the others find it?" Mayor Li asked hurriedly.

"I was about to talk about this situation," Gao Fei looked grim: "Before this, I will introduce our other group of police to investigate Li Xiaochuan's whereabouts in the city. First, the hotel where Li Xiaochuan stayed has been quarantined, and all the hotel staff have been sent to the quarantine area. Through the medicine packaging at the head of Li Xiaochuan's bed, we found the Huimin Pharmacy, which sold medicines. According to our information, Li Xiaochuan came to Huimin Pharmacy at around 1 noon on the 15th. At that time, there was only one salesperson and a doctor in the pharmacy. These two people had been sent to the quarantine area. The pharmacy was 3 streets away from the long-distance bus station, about 2 kilometers. The passengers Li Xiaochuan took were on.

The car arrived at Zhongjiang City at 10:30. If Li Xiaochuan walked to the pharmacy, with his physical condition at that time, it would be reasonable for more than two hours. Therefore, we have a preliminary judgment that Li Xiaochuan should have not been to other places before getting off the bus. The most difficult problem now is that the other passengers on the bus Li Xiaochuan was on the bus - from Chen Li's situation, it can be seen that in a relatively closed bus, the pneumoplague bacteria carried by Li Xiaochuan can easily be transmitted to others. If we cannot find these passengers as soon as possible, once his passengers are also infected with the bacteria, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Gao Fei picked up the teacup and took a sip of water, and continued: "According to the ticket seller of the bus, there were 32 passengers on the bus at that time, and there were 30 people in addition to Chen Li and Li Xiaochuan. However, we did not have any information about these 30 passengers. If we only rely on current conventional means to investigate, the progress would be very slow. The only way now is to issue an emergency notice to the citizens of the city through TV media, so that the passengers of the bus would take the initiative to report to the command center, and the command center would send them to the isolation area." Gao Fei smiled bitterly and added: "I also know that this method has many disadvantages, but this is the only way to control the outbreak of the plague at present."

Gao Fei ended his speech. Everyone in the conference room looked ugly. Indeed, Gao Fei's proposal put the decision-makers of the command center in a dilemma. If the TV media does not use the emergency notice to find passengers, once these passengers are also infected with pneumoplague, then these 30 passengers are 30 mobile sources of infection! The possibility of a large-scale outbreak of pneumoplague will be greatly increased; however, if the TV media searches for passengers so much, it will be difficult to block the news of plague patients in Zhongjiang City. Once citizens

When you learn that someone around you may be the carrier of plague bacteria, Zhongjiang City will inevitably fall into a large-scale panic, and the situation will be difficult to control. The most difficult thing is that if some of these 30 passengers leave Zhongjiang City and go to other places in the country, then this panic may spread across the country. After all, the flow of people in various cities in China is very frequent. If such a situation occurs, the top leaders of the country will have to use their troops to block Zhongjiang City, and millions of citizens in Zhongjiang City will become abandoned children!

Governor Qin hesitated for a moment and said, "Don't use the TV media first, this... has a great impact. Director Zhang, Director Gao——" Governor Qin suddenly raised his voice and gritted his teeth and said sternly: "I order you to use the strongest power of the police system. Within 24 hours, you must find these 30 passengers if you dig three feet into the ground! This is a dead order!"

Zhang Yuesheng and Gao Fei quickly stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

Governor Qin waved his hand and asked Zhang Yuesheng and Gao Fei to sit down. He pondered for a while, then turned to ask Han Qiang: "How is the situation in the isolation area?"

Han Qiang thought for a while and said, "With the strong support of the municipal government, the work of the quarantine area transformed by the hot spring resort center has been progressing smoothly. The first batch of medical staff, equipment and medicines have been shipped, and the army has sent a platoon of troops to the quarantine area for vigilance. At present, 17 people who may be infected with plague have moved in, and their emotions are still stable. In order to keep confidential, we have also removed the phones in the quarantine ward and confiscated all quarantine personnel's mobile phones and other communication equipment. At present, the Capital Medical Expert Team is closely monitoring the condition of the quarantine personnel in the quarantine area."

Governor Qin nodded, looking at Han Qiang's tired expression, and reminded him: "Very good. Director Han, I know everyone has worked hard recently, especially your comrades in the medical system and the police system. Many people have not closed their eyes for days and nights. However, now is a critical period. The more you are at this time, the more you cannot relax, do you understand?"

Han Qiang nodded mechanically and quietly stuffed a ginseng lozeng into his mouth.

Mayor Li suddenly interrupted, and his tone was heavy: "Governor Qin, I must report a very serious problem to you - our Zhongjiang City Finance is about to go bankrupt!"

"What's wrong?" Governor Qin's heart tightened.

Mayor Li sighed and said, "After the mountainous areas implemented the lockdown order, all enterprises in the mountainous areas closed down, and this alone caused huge losses to the city's economy. Moreover, the city's tourism industry has almost dropped to zero, and the related catering, hotels, and leisure and entertainment industries have also had a bleak prospect. It is estimated that the city's fiscal revenue this year will reach half of last year. The most important thing is that at present, the daily necessities of hundreds of thousands of villagers in the mountainous areas are provided by the government. Although it can also purchase agricultural products subsidy fees, it is far away.

It is far from enough. It is estimated that our city needs a fiscal subsidy of 1 billion yuan in providing daily necessities to residents in mountainous areas every month! Although the central government has provided us with 500 million yuan in financial support and the provincial finance has allocated 120 million yuan, this money is used to purchase and special funds for rat killing agents. Even if we are rich, it will be used for medicines and medical devices. It is not the turn of the daily necessities of the villagers in mountainous areas. If Zhongjiang City is to independently bear the huge monthly subsidy cost of 1 billion yuan, we probably have to be pants!"

Mayor Li smiled bitterly and spread his hands, but Governor Qin's brows became tighter and tighter. He knew very well that if he had to spend 1 billion yuan a month to subsidize the living expenses of mountain villagers, it would probably be difficult.

"Now the army has blocked 12 villages and towns in Zhongjiang City. I calculated that there are more than 50,000 residents in the blockade area! Since the blockade area is an epidemic area, the agricultural products and other things in the blockade area are no longer expected, so we have another huge burden of 50,000 people. We have to be responsible for all the 50,000 people eating, drinking, defecation and urination. This expenditure plus procurement, transportation costs will be at least 100 million yuan per month. If this situation continues, I dare to predict that at most, Zhongjiang City's finances will go bankrupt by the end of January next year!"

Governor Qin pressed his temples with his fingers. It was a headache! It was really a headache! He had only been the commander of this command center for half a month, and various problems came one after another. No problem was not difficult, and no problem did not make people feel headache. The problem of the spread of the plague has not been solved and this financial problem has been exposed, which made Governor Qin feel exhausted for a while.

"I have a suggestion!" Lin Yusen, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. He looked at Governor Qin with a tired face and said slowly: "I have said a long time ago that the series of problems brought about by rat poison in mountainous areas cannot be dealt with by a province. The current situation is deteriorating. Before the situation is completely out of control, I suggest that Governor Qin report to the central government urgently and immediately upgrade the command center. I ask the Premier of the State Council to come to Zhongjiang in person to serve as the head of the command center!"

Everyone looked at Governor Qin. The muscles on Governor Qin's face twitched and asked lightly: "Does Professor Lin's out-of-control situation refer to the risk of the spread of plague?"

"It's not just this." Lin Yusen looked worried: "This time the rat group attacked Yangjia Village. We used all the helicopters and dozens of villagers died. If the rat group attacked several or even dozens of villages at the same time, how many casualties would it cause by relying on these few dozen aircraft? Even if helicopters from all over the country are transferred, it may not be enough. Therefore, the only way now is to force mountain residents to take refuge. This involves a huge financial budget. Without the full support of the central government, it would be unimaginable to organize hundreds of thousands of villagers to take refuge..."

"Also, the mountain rat group will definitely attack Zhongjiang City after looting villages and towns. Now we only have one division and troops on the edge of the mountain, but we have to defend the mountain defense line of more than 600 kilometers. Such a fragile defense line cannot stop the impact of billions of rats. Once the rat group rushes into the city, an unprecedented tragedy will occur. Therefore, more troops and equipment must be mobilized now, and the mountain edge defense line must be defended at all costs. To do this, the highest-level national leader must personally serve as the head of the rat prevention command center!"

Governor Qin listened quietly to Lin Yusen's speech and pondered for a long time before saying, "Professor Lin's suggestion - everyone should talk about their own opinions.

After a brief silence, Zhang Yuesheng, director of the Provincial Department of Health, coughed and said, "I will talk about my opinion from the perspective of controlling the spread of plague. Now our main measure to control the plague is to set up isolation areas to isolate all people who may be infected with plague bacteria. This measure can only treat the symptoms. To completely solve the problem, all rats in the epidemic area must be eliminated! The plague outbreak in San Francisco, USA in 1900 lasted for six years, and later hundreds of thousands of rats were eliminated before the plague was completely eliminated. The problem we are facing is very difficult now, because billions of rats in the mountainous areas will soon rush down the mountainous areas. What I worry most is that once the mountainous rat group breaks through the defense line of our army and billions of rats converge with the mice in the epidemic area, a large-scale outbreak of plague will inevitably occur."

Although Zhang Yuesheng spoke very tactfully, his meaning was very clear--he agreed with Lin Yusen's opinion. The reasons he talked about were very sufficient, and even Governor Qin was shocked and moved.

Immediately afterwards, other members of the command center also expressed their opinions, and everyone tactfully expressed their support for Professor Lin's proposal-the command center must be upgraded immediately, otherwise it would not be enough to cope with the development of the situation.

Finally, Governor Qin smiled bitterly and said, "Since everyone agrees with Professor Lin's proposal, I respect everyone's opinions - after the meeting, I will report to Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu and ask him to come to Zhongjiang as soon as possible to preside over the work of the Rat Prevention Command Center."
Chapter completed!