Tried leaving our fair province of Jiangsu lately? If so, you likely encountered a couple of snags. Nucleic acid tests (NAT) to be precise, one 48 hours before arrival at the destination, and another upon arrival. For Nanjingers though, one place is making an exception.
最近尝试离开我们美丽的江苏省吗？如果是这样，您可能会遇到一些障碍。准确地说，是核酸检测（NAT），到达目的地前48小时进行一次，到达目的地后进行另一次。但对于南京人来说，有一个地方是例外的。
The city of Chuzhou in eastern Anhui Province lies just across the border with Jiangsu Province. In fact, from one particular part of the City, it is just three kilometres to Nanjing’s Jiangbei New Area, and it is in that fact that we find the explanation for granting NAT exemption to Nanjingers.
安徽省东部滁州市与江苏省毗邻。事实上，从南京市的一个特定区域出发，距离南京江北新区仅三公里，正是在这一点上，我们找到了给予南京人豁免NAT的解释。
Is this some kind of reward for us having endured last July the biggest lockdown since Wuhan? Or that we have remained almost entirely COVID free since then?
这是对我们去年7月经历了自武汉以来最大规模封锁的某种奖励吗？或者说从那时起我们就几乎完全没有新冠病毒了？
Neither. The reasons are altogether more practical.
两者都不。原因总体来说更为实际。
The place in question is in fact just one residential community in Chahe Town of Lai’an County in Chuzhou.
事发地点实际上只是滁州市来安县岔河镇的一处居民小区。
Like all communities, Linxi Community has formulated its own “Epidemic Prevention and Control Policy for Returnees”. Therein, it is stipulated that all personnel returning from low-risk areas outside the province shall hold a 48-hour NAT report and do another test upon arrival.
和所有社区一样，林西社区也制定了自己的《返乡人员疫情防控政策》。其中规定，所有从省外低风险地区返回的人员均须持有48小时核酸检测报告，抵达后再次进行检测。
But those returning from Nanjing to the Community are exempt.
但从南京返回社区的人员除外。
Liu Manchang, Party Branch Secretary of Linxi Community, spoke with The Paper yesterday evening, 19 January, pointing out that the outbreak in Nanjing last summer seriously disrupted the normal rhythm of exchange between the two places. As a result, the Community took into account the demands of the masses and decided against a rigid inspection of people returning from Nanjing this Chinese New Year.
1月19日晚，林西社区党支部书记刘满昌接受澎湃新闻采访时指出，去年夏天南京的疫情严重扰乱了两地正常的交往节奏。因此，社区考虑到群众诉求，决定不对今年春节从南京返乡的人员进行严格检查。
Linxi Community has a resident population of about 7,000. Fully 60 percent of them work in Nanjing. For the Community management, the prospect of arranging NATs for upwards of 4,000 people every weekday evening was perhaps just too much to contemplate.
林西社区常住人口约7000人。其中足有60%在南京工作。对于社区管理层来说，每个工作日晚上为超过 4,000 人安排 NAT 的前景可能难以想象。
“But this does not mean that we are careless about epidemic prevention and control”, Liu added.
“但这并不意味着我们对疫情防控不重视”，刘补充道。
