The infected people who tested positive during group PCRs are requested to go to mobile medical cabinets (方舱) where patients are grouped, separated from the “negative” world in Shanghai. We are lucky enough that the whole compound remained negative until now. Somehow most of us still feel lucky to be asked to do the test, because it is the only way to get out for a while and breathe the fresh air. We are asked to do these tests every three or four days, sometimes within short notice or very late in the night. PCR testing is the only occasion to get outside. They’d usually launch an inquiry in the WeChat group, collect requests from neighbours, connect with food suppliers, pay in advance and distribute accordingly when supplies arrive. Group leader (团长) quickly became a trending word and heroic role to play in lockdown Shanghai: one needs to be resourceful, serviceable and organised at the same time. Due to limited circulation on the streets and the high risk for delivery workers during the lockdown, only food orders above a certain price or amount could be prioritised. Like many of those who were not able to buy groceries online and were provided with the bare minimum from government supplies, WeChat group buy was the only way to go. The minute I closed the door I realised that the situation had reached a point where it became difficult to get the bare essentials.Īs days go by, food shortage becomes more and more serious. I poured half of my rice pack into the pot in his hands and turned him down when he insisted on paying me. He is 50 years old, living alone in the building next to me, and ran out of the last grain. A neighbour knocked on the door to ask for rice.
On day six, the expected release never came true but real anxiety kicked in.
'This cannot last': residents in locked down Shanghai scream from their balconies – video Among friends, we reached a silent consensus: behind every smiley on WeChat at 6am is a desperate resident in Shanghai. It didn’t take me long to realise that everyone is in the same situation. I had to come to the realisation that either stock is running out or no one is out there to deliver. I downloaded 30 more apps and added community service, woke up at 6am to empty my shopping list, but nothing helped. The more I dive into the Shanghai lockdown, the more I realised I just dived into a black hole. Within a few clicks, my heart skipped a beat.
#China lockdown full#
‘The situation just got worse and worse’īy the second day into full lockdown, I tried to browse Meituan and Hema to purchase coffee. I reasonably hoarded food for 10 days, started downloading spiritual books and Buddhism classics for my mental wellbeing, and wrote down daily scheduling on my whiteboard while jumping from zoom calls to instant message apps while trying to concentrate on my writing. Restaurants are semi-closed for dining in, chaotic hoarding scenes start to become creative materials for rap songs, and the city authorities finally impose a full lockdown in segments for 10 days. In the last week of March, we finally realised we were in deep water, and going to be there for a long time. Not from the media, not from politics, not even from scientific research, but someone who has been there that they trust. Numbers of cases were still not part of daily discussion, and no one was really anxious because … come on: everyone has a friend or a friend of a friend outside China who got Covid, recovered and is having great fun now in their life. Offices started to close and people were gradually asked to work from home. Memes and jokes started circulating around on Chinese social media: “Those who are at work spend the day worrying if they can go back home tonight, those who are at home spend the night worrying if they can go to work the next morning.”īy mid-March, everyone knew for a fact that some sort of lockdown was about to happen. In the second week, everyone had a friend who was either locked up in their office or locked up in their compound.
In the first week of March, I was aware that some compounds were locked down here and there for several days due to a new surge of Omicron variant infections, but no one I know personally was affected by the situation yet. People line up for Covid-19 tests in a residential community under lockdown in Shanghai, China.
0 kommentar(er)
