Coronavirus: Chinese people are dancing their thanks to pandemic workers, but the trend is more burden than gift

While the gesture is appreciated, the dances often disrupt busy days or prevent workers from getting rest

Deliveries of food are also pointless, as the workers cannot enjoy it while wearing their gear

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A woman dances in front of a line of pandemic workers in China, which has become common as the country battles Covid-19. Photo: Weibo

Published: 5:00pm, 6 Apr 2022

For China’s epidemic control workers, who usually spend long hours working in hazmat suits, a well-intentioned display of gratitude is proving to exacerbate frustrations rather than improve morale.

A slew of videos across China showed a trend of people dancing in front of the workers as the country continued with a massive testing push to curb a worsening Covid-19 outbreak driven by the Omicron variant. The government reported 20,472 cases on Tuesday, the most in China during the pandemic.

The dancers, who were often women and children but occasionally men, either brought a loudspeaker to play music or sing themselves. They said they wanted to entertain front-line workers and thank them for their hard work.

However, many workers did not appreciate the gesture, explaining that it either disrupted an already busy day or delayed their much-needed rest.

A young girl dances in front of pandemic control workers in China. Photo: Weibo

“They might mean well, but this is wasting our time. It would be impolite of us to stop them, but we are very busy. We just want to finish our job as soon as possible and go home,” said Tang Xuan, a nurse in Shanghai who has been collecting respiratory samples for nucleic acid tests in the past month.

“To me, the best way to express gratitude is to prepare for the test in advance, like getting their QR codes ready and cleaning their mouths, and leave as quickly as they can after the sample collection,” she said.

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Coronavirus: Chinese people are dancing their thanks to pandemic workers, but the trend is more burden than gift

While the gesture is appreciated, the dances often disrupt busy days or prevent workers from getting rest Deliveries of food are also pointless, as the workers cannot enjoy it while wearing their gear

While the gesture is appreciated, the dances often disrupt busy days or prevent workers from getting rest

Deliveries of food are also pointless, as the workers cannot enjoy it while wearing their gear