China’s Sanitation Workers Take on Coronavirus Cleanup

Thousands of cleaners, garbage disposal workers and sanitation workers across South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are working diligently to maintain a clean work and living environment amid the coronavirus epidemic.

Xinhua reports that household waste, however, has greatly reduced as most people are advised to stay home to minimize the risk of getting infected. But sanitation workers are greatly impacted, as their duties include disinfecting discarded masks of residents and facilities such as public toilets.

Xinhua has more:

Putting on protective clothing, a medical mask and a pair of goggles, Shi Qing'e, 48, must put in some extra effort every day before starting her tight cleaning schedule at a designated hospital that receives patients infected with the novel coronavirus in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

She always ends the day drenched in sweat as the heavy suit restricts her movements. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the workload has been intense, said Shi who has worked as a cleaner at the hospital's department of infectious diseases for over six years.

Shi said medical waste used to be placed at the door of the clinic by nurses for her convenience, but as the number of patients increased, medical workers became too busy to make time for the waste, so it became her responsibility.

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