Thursday, March 31, 2022

Lockdown Diaries: Covid Case in Our Complex, and Free Veggies from the Government

An example of the free groceries someone got in Shanghai. Yeah ours are definitely not as good as these. Image source. (This link has a lot of photos, you can see the whole range of quality of the goodie bags, for different parts of Shanghai.)

Posts about the covid outbreak in Shanghai, China:

Complete list is here: Index of Posts About the March 2022 Shanghai Covid Outbreak

On the Current Covid Outbreak in Shanghai (March 12)
I'm in Lockdown (March 16)
I'm Still in Lockdown (March 19)
I'm in Lockdown Again (March 25)
Now All of Pudong (East Shanghai) is in Lockdown (March 28)

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Many fun updates from me!

First, the timeline:

March 16-21: first lockdown. 6 days.

March 23- now (March 31): second lockdown. 9 days and counting.

Got covid-tested by the pandemic workers in white hazmat suits 8 times. (March 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28, 30)

The above stats are specific to our apartment complex. Everywhere else in Shanghai has a similar story but the dates and numbers won't be exactly the same.

Starting March 28, all of Pudong (the east half of Shanghai) is in lockdown. It was planned to end on April 1, but I am skeptical. And the west half, Puxi, will be in lockdown starting on April 1. (Though obviously many places in Puxi are already in lockdown, if they've been judged to have a risk of having covid cases there.)

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Emma Leaning shows us what happens if you test positive:

Emma Leaning is a British woman living in Shanghai. She and her husband Shane Leaning recently tested positive and posted their experiences on Twitter. Shane was sent to a hospital, and Emma was sent to the quarantine center at the World Expo. (They were separated because initially Emma tested negative- she later tested positive and that's when she was sent to the World Expo quarantine center.) Please do go read their Twitter threads to see what conditions are like there:

Thread from Shane:

Thread from Emma:

In particular, this video about Emma's experience at the quarantine center is worth watching:

Basically you can see that the quarantine facilities for covid-positive patients are not that great, just kind of bare-minimum, a lot of beds, no showers, hope you brought your own toilet paper.

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Covid case in our apartment complex:

So we found out that somebody in our apartment complex tested positive. Here's what that means:

Person who tested positive: They get taken in an ambulance to the quarantine center. Actually, they first quarantined at home for 2 days, because there wasn't space at the quarantine center, and then the ambulance came and got them.

People who live in the same building as the covid-positive person: They have to all quarantine at home for 14 days. Not allowed to leave the building. Whether or not they can go down to the first floor to throw away trash or pick up deliveries is up to the apartment management. If the apartment management is not even allowing them to come out of their homes at all, then the apartment management has to send people to each household to pick up their garbage and drop off deliveries. Also, they have to get covid-tested several times during those 14 days.

People who live in the same apartment complex: They have to all quarantine at home for 14 days. Whether or not they can at least walk around outside is up to the apartment management, but definitely can't leave the apartment complex. Also, have to get covid-tested several times during those 14 days.

So I fall into the "same apartment complex but not the same building" category. Even though Pudong's lockdown is (supposedly) ending on April 1 (and we are in Pudong), our apartment complex will not be opening.

I feel bad for the covid-positive person- apparently they went grocery shopping on March 22, and that must be where they were infected. It's not their fault. And now they probably feel like everyone in our complex is judging them.

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Groceries:

Okay, this is a PROBLEM. Before March 28 (when all of Pudong went into lockdown), it was tough to place orders on grocery delivery apps, but I managed to successfully get food delivered about every 2-3 days. But on March 28, that all changed, and now it's virtually impossible. Yes, for 4 days, I have tried several times a day, checking several different apps, and none of them allow me to place orders for groceries. (Either the store is closed, or they have too many orders already, or they say they can't deliver to this address.) 

(Weirdly, though, I ordered cat litter from a pet store and it was delivered half an hour later, no problem. So apparently pet stores are not having the same overwhelming demand that grocery stores are...)

I have seen a lot of tips shared on WeChat about "for Dingdong Maicai, you have to set your alarm for 5:50 am, and place your order at exactly 6" like what the little tricks are for each platform.  I have tried those tips, and still failed.

So the volunteers in our apartment complex are helping us all get very basic groceries. Like, very basic. They post in the group chat "there are bags of vegetables for 30 kuai" and we can reply to say if we want that. You don't have options, it's just whatever random vegetables are in the bag. They get delivered about 2 days later.

Also, the government has been distributing a free bag of groceries to each household. This is organized by the local government, so you get totally different stuff depending on what part of Shanghai you live in. People have been posting photos of their free groceries on WeChat- it's always a bunch of fresh vegetables, and sometimes meat like pork or chicken, sometimes tofu, sometimes a carton of milk, sometimes some fresh fruit, sometimes noodles. There is a lot of variation in how good these goodie bags are, and everyone is very excited to compare on WeChat.

We got ours today, and it's just vegetables. Cauliflower, mushrooms, and a few other things. So, kind of disappointed about that. Like, yes, we very much need the fresh vegetables, but... other people elsewhere in Shanghai got meat...

Now people have started getting together with their neighbors to buy things in bulk. Somebody has a contact at a grocery store who can get us eggs, but only if we buy 300 cartons of them, and so they are making a sign-up list for people in our apartment complex to buy them.

So it looks like that's how we'll be getting groceries for the foreseeable future. Which is okay, we'll survive, but we don't have much choice, and definitely can't get anything that Chinese people don't consider a staple. For example, we're out of pasta.

Honestly, this grocery situation is not okay. How has the city of Shanghai failed so badly at making sure grocery stores in Pudong could stay open and accessible during the lockdown?

To give another example: Epermarket is a grocery store that markets toward international people in China. On March 28, the first day of the Pudong lockdown, they posted an update on WeChat to say they are not able to cross the river from Puxi to Pudong, and so they aren't able to deliver in Pudong that day. It took a few days, but eventually they did deliver those things in Pudong. I don't understand this- why was there uncertainty about a grocery service being allowed to enter Pudong during lockdown? Why did it take 2-3 days to get this resolved? Why was it not obvious to everyone that a grocery store is an essential business and therefore shouldn't be restricted like that? If there were hoops they had to jump through- like maybe covid-testing all their employees, or disinfecting their store- why was that not done immediately when the lockdown was announced?

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Pets:

Apparently the official announcement about the Pudong lockdown said people are not allowed to go outside at all. This is kind of open to interpretation- obviously you can't leave your apartment complex (the gates are blocked), but some complexes are more relaxed about it, and they say if you need to go outside, just go real quick and come back. Like if you need to pick up a delivery or take out the trash or whatever. (Our complex is relaxed like this.)

But some complexes are not allowing people to go outside at all. So, people ask, how will we walk our dogs? Some complexes are not even allowing people to walk their dogs- the dog owners have to set up fake grass inside their home and try to convince their dog to pee on it. That's completely ridiculous. (There are also some middle-ground apartment complexes, where a volunteer will walk your dog, but you still can't go outside.)

And also, there is worry about what will happen to your pets if you test positive. Basically, you have to find someone to come get your pets and take them out of your home, before you go to central quarantine. We have heard about situations in other cities in China where pandemic workers killed pets. So... right, seems like the policy in Shanghai is that you can let someone else come get your pets, and that you should communicate with the apartment management about it, no need to sneak around. (Emma Leaning mentioned in her Twitter thread that she was able to hand off her 2 dogs to someone before going to quarantine- her dogs are safe.) The issue is what if your apartment management is being jerks and doesn't want to help you? Which is apparently happening- I have seen WeChat posts of people who tested positive and are desperately looking for someone to come get their pets. And I've seen vets and pet boarding services posting information about what to do, and about how to get connected with other pet owners who can help you.

Yeah, this is ****ed up. The Shanghai government should have a clear policy about this, so there is a place for the pets to go and no one has to worry that the pets will be killed, wtf.

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Perfect Number is Very Disappointed in Shanghai's Management:

Yeah, I'm shocked. Mostly about the lack of access to groceries. How is Shanghai this bad at it? It's been 4 days, and I haven't been able to get any groceries delivered, except for the very basic ones that our apartment volunteers got for us.

Shanghai is a world-class, modern, international city, with very good infrastructure, very efficient and convenient. I thought, we're not like those smaller Chinese cities, we won't have the logistical problems they've had during their lockdowns. I'm really shocked at this. Seriously, why am I not able to order groceries, from ANYWHERE? (Except our nice building leaders, who bring bags of random vegetables.) That's... how???

It is nice to see neighbors coming together to help each other. It's nice to see so many people volunteering, and all the pandemic workers working so hard. People everywhere in the world are like that- when there is a need, people will step up and help. So that's good. We're going to get through this. But look at me, I'm kind of changing my tune a little, I've always been so confident about how Shanghai does things, but now they are failing.

I am hoping that, even though we will still be in lockdown for a while, some places in Pudong will open on April 1, and that will make it easier for me to order groceries. We will see.

Good night everyone ~ I will post more updates as they happen.

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Follow-up post: Lockdown Diaries: Antigen Self-Tests, and Children with Covid


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