When returning home for the Spring Festival, can you take off your mask if you have tested positive? Don’t be careless about protection!

What preparations should people returning home make in advance during the Spring Festival travel rush? After returning home, how should they take protective measures when visiting relatives and friends or gathering together?

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01

Can I take off my mask if I have tested positive?

Yang Xiaobing, director of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Institute of the Wuhan Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Hubei Province, introduced that the current source of infection in society is uncertain, and people who have not been infected should take good personal protection. It is very important to wear masks when entering and leaving crowded places such as shopping malls and hospitals, and when taking closed transportation vehicles such as airplanes and trains.

Yang Xiaobing introduced that after being infected with the new coronavirus, people with normal immune function will have a certain resistance to the new coronavirus, and the possibility of being infected with other Omicron variants again in a short period of time is small. However, winter and spring are also the peak seasons for respiratory infectious diseases such as influenza, so it is recommended not to downgrade personal protection to avoid being infected with other diseases just after being "healthy".

In addition, after a long period of infection with the new coronavirus, the protective effect of antibodies decreases. If a strain with strong immune escape ability is encountered, it is not ruled out that a small number of recovered people, especially those with weakened immune systems, may be infected again.

02

Before returning home

What preparations should be made?

People who travel long distances or return home should make these preparations in advance:

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• Prepare protective materials: such as masks, hand protection products, and wet and dry disinfectant wipes.
• Assess your own physical condition: For those who have not been infected, or are infected and have not yet recovered, long-distance travel is not recommended; key groups such as the elderly, children, patients with chronic diseases, and pregnant women should try not to arrange long trips.
• Make good preparations for epidemic prevention medicines: such as antigen detection reagents, commonly used medicines, etc.
• Avoid traveling with symptoms: When symptoms such as fever appear, conduct antigen or nucleic acid testing in a timely manner; avoid taking public transportation after infection or before symptoms disappear.
• Reasonable travel arrangements: Avoid going to areas with high epidemic levels and minimize gatherings. Make travel plans in advance, pay attention to changes in the epidemic situation at the destination and the policies and measures for epidemic prevention and control, and pay more attention to travel tips from the transportation department.
• Ticket purchase and payment should be made online as much as possible: avoid buying tickets at crowded places such as train stations.

03

On the way home

What should I pay attention to?

■ Public transport

• In closed environments and crowded places, such as when waiting for a flight or a train, and when taking public transportation such as airplanes, trains, subways, and buses, you must wear a mask properly throughout the entire process.
• Maintain a reasonable social distance in public places and reduce close contact with others.
• Maintain good personal hygiene, especially pay attention to hand hygiene at all times, and avoid contact with public items.
• When coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth with a tissue or your elbow, and throw the used tissue into the trash can immediately. If you come into contact with respiratory secretions, wash your hands or disinfect them immediately.
• When you are outside or taking public transportation, try to reduce the number of times you eat and eat during off-peak hours.
• Try not to go to crowded places with poor ventilation. When going to public places such as scenic spots, you must comply with the requirements of limited reservations and staggered peak hours.

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■ Travel by car

• Prepare supplies and plan routes

When traveling by car, you should prepare appropriate medicines and protective supplies, including masks, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, common antipyretic drugs, etc. You should plan your route well, especially to understand the current epidemic situation at your destination.

• Pay attention to the health of passengers during the journey

Strengthen vehicle ventilation and disinfection. If you have some respiratory symptoms during travel, don't panic, you can use rapid antigen test kits for testing.

If the test result is positive, a backup driver can be asked to drive the car so that the positive tester can get enough rest and recovery, and other people in the car should take good protection. If the symptoms of the symptomatic person are more serious, they should seek medical treatment nearby in time.

• Take precautions when passing through service areas or toll booths

There are more people during the Spring Festival travel season, and you should wear a mask in the service areas of the highway and take protective measures, including washing your hands and avoiding more contact with other people to minimize the risk of respiratory infections.

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When getting off the vehicle to rest at a service area, reduce your stay time; disinfect your hands when eating in the dining area; and wear a mask when paying through the manual window at the toll station.

04

After returning home

What should I pay attention to?

■ Home protection

After returning home, people who return home should strengthen self-health monitoring and pay close attention to the health of themselves and their families. When they first return home, they should take good self-protection measures and try to avoid contact with the elderly or people with underlying diseases at home.

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■ Visiting relatives and friends

• When visiting relatives and friends, you must take good personal protection and wear a mask, and reduce the number, number of people and time of gatherings. At the same time, it is recommended to use serving chopsticks and spoons, and wear a mask in time after finishing the meal.
• Wash your hands frequently and disinfect frequently. Live a regular life, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, eat more fruits and vegetables; ventilate your home frequently, clean and tidy up regularly, and clean up production and living garbage in a timely manner.

Source: CCTV News

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