Medics and public servants volunteer to take their places on the front line

Doctors and police officers shoulder great responsibilities

Written request for permission to officially join a publicity campaign, made by Guo Cong, a police officer in Liupanshui, Guizhou province, on Jan 30.

I am a policeman with the Economic Investigation Bureau of the (Liupanshui) Municipal Public Security Bureau. My wife is chief inspection physician of the Clinical Laboratory Department at Liupanshui People's Hospital. Our first child is 3 years old, and my wife is nearly 70 days pregnant with our second, which I hope will be a boy. She offered to go to Wuhan (Hubei province) to fight the epidemic, but approval was withheld because of her pregnancy, so she has blamed me as the "archcriminal" responsible for stopping her combating the disease in the epicenter of the outbreak.

Today, the sixth day of China's Lunar New Year, is the fourth day I have participated (unofficially) in street patrols and publicity for the youth commandos of the municipal PSB.

It also is the sixth day my wife has stayed at her post to assess specimens of the virus, and the seventh day of the local government's required quarantine and observation period following the outbreak.

In fact, I took the initiative to apply to take part in the street patrols and publicity because of my wife. I thought, "Why can't I－the head of the family and also a police officer－help control the epidemic, given that my pregnant wife can."

Compared with my simple, direct patrol, which starts at 9 am and ends at 8 pm, my wife deals with hundreds of samples every day.

She not only has to examine them and assess the results accurately, but also needs to take care to protect herself and our baby.

The intensity of her work means she is under far greater strain than me, which really worries me. But, because of her responsibilities, I have to understand and support her. After all, doctors and police officers both shoulder great responsibilities.

That's the reason I am applying to join the street patrol publicity team. On the one hand, I need to shoulder my responsibilities, and on the other, I hope to reduce the number of infected people through the campaign.

I know that as long as there is one fewer infected or suspected case, my wife will have one fewer potentially infected case to deal with, which will reduce the risk of her becoming infected.

I firmly believe this: As my wife and I fight side by side, the policemen and doctors will fight side by side, and all the people will fight side by side, and we will be able to win the battle against the epidemic as quickly as possible.