Refining Community Grid Management in Medium/High-Risk Regions when SARS-COV-2 Delta Variant Attack in Yangzhou: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: Community grid management has been proved to be effective in the outbreak, but previous studies have all been carried out in China's first-tier cities, while Yangzhou, as a second-tier city, seemed to have deficiencies in epidemic control. The aim of this research was to understand the experiences and feelings of residents and social workers in the grid, so as to develop more detailed community grid management strategies in the context of mandatory quarantine.Methods: Qualitative research was conducted with 21 residents and 10 social workers based on a semi-structured qualitative interview guide. Thematic analysis was employed to analysed data.Results: The outbreak has put pressure on both residents and social workers, and the implementation of community grid management has revealed many deficiencies, such as quarantine strategies, human resource management, material supply and information transmission. As the four overarching themes identified from the analysis: “inadequate quarantine strategies may create greater risks”, “human resource management in the grid is considered lagging”, “duplicate/missing information” and “another way to meet daily needs. Conclusions: This study used the perspective of residents and social workers within the grid to help explained why there was still confusion in the seemingly tight management. Analysed the quarantine strategy, human resources management, supply chain and information technology. Flexible and responsive community grid management was conducive to reducing the risk of transmission and economic losses.