E-pass scheme reduces risk

Zhou Yulin and Yang Wenjie
Residents in Jiading Town’s Lijing Community are using e-passes for entry and exit, with an efficient means of smart management in use since early February.
The color of the pass suggests what to do with the holder. If green, it means the resident has not left Shanghai in the past 14 days; yellow, the security guard will try to persuade them to leave, and red, the resident will definitely have to stay home for quarantine. 
People living in the area only need to scan and follow the community’s WeChat account to fill in the information required and apply for such a pass. 
The passes have to be registered with real names and therefore apply to one person only. The paperless method also helps prevent possible infection through touch. 
The information needed includes the address, time of return to Shanghai, regions they traveled through and body temperature at the time of registration. 
These are transferred in real time to the residential committee for workers to learn about the flow of people. 
“If we have a new registration from a person who has been to a key epidemic area, we will receive an alert right away on the phone,” said Dai Ye, Party secretary of the community. 
Before implementing the measure, residents were asked to sign up at the security room at the entrance when they first came back to the community after the Spring Festival holiday. The forms were then delivered to the committee for later management. 
The account facilitates daily management as well. 
People who return from out of town need to report their temperature every day. They can send the information through the WeChat account without going out. If they forget to take their temperature one day, they are given a reminder via the account. 
“We might miss the calls from the residential committee asking for the temperature sometimes, but now the reminder comes two times a day and we can better keep track,” said a resident surnamed Yi, who needs to stay home for observation. 
All data will be recorded and when a resident has temperature higher than normal, committee workers will be informed to visit. 
The account has so far listed more than 400 residents who came back to Shanghai and it will be upgraded later based on feedback.