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| This page has a lot of good photos from the Shanghai lockdown. Caption for this one is "A view of empty streets during the second stage of a COVID-19 lockdown in the Yangpu district of Shanghai on April 1" |
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)
Lockdown Diaries: Covid Case in Our Complex, and Free Veggies from the Government (March 31)
Lockdown Diaries: Antigen Self-Tests, and Children with Covid (April 3)
Lockdown Diaries: Dressing Up, Free Medicine, Free Rice (April 6)
Lockdown Diaries: I am Okay, Shanghai is Not (April 9)
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Perfect Number is still in lockdown lol
Here's the updated timeline:
March 16-21: First lockdown. 6 days.
March 23-now: Second lockdown. 21 days and counting.
Nucleic acid tests (conducted by baymax, ie, the workers in white hazmat suits): 11 times (March 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28, 30, April 4, 6, 9)
Antigen self-tests: 6 times (April 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12)
(The above info is specific to our apartment complex. Other apartment complexes in Shanghai will have a similar situation but not exactly the same.)
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So I found a blog called Austrian China which has 2 recent posts about what's going on in Shanghai:
When the Commissar Came to Shanghai (April 9)
Shanghai Snippets – The Front Line Report on April 10th (April 10)
These are very much worth reading! The writers definitely live in Shanghai and know what's what. Very real, lots of details about what life is really like on the ground here.
The writers very clearly Have Some Opinions about the Chinese government, but I am fine with that kind of "bias" because you can tell it's based in a lot of experience with how things really work here. It's not the kind of one-dimensional "communism is bad" bias that I've complained about before, which I see all the time in western media articles about the pandemic.
The posts from Austrian China talk about the difference in governing styles between Shanghai and Beijing- how Beijing is more about strict centralized government control and Shanghai is more like letting the free market do whatever [okay that is my paraphrase]. I hadn't really thought of it that way before, but it makes sense to me. Shanghai is the financial center of China and because of that, is much more on the capitalism/ free market end of things. And the past 2 years, even when there were some covid cases in Shanghai occasionally, there were never any big lockdowns or mass testing because of it- Shanghai really made it a priority to not affect that many people, to let most of the city carry on with life like normal. (Again, I think this is because of economic reasons- Shanghai is so important to the economy of China, and so they didn't want to shut that down.)
And apparently, according to Austrian China, the national government (Beijing) stepped in (some time around March 27) and took over Shanghai's anti-pandemic efforts. I haven't heard this anywhere except on that blog, so I can't say it's definitely true, but it makes sense to me.
Anyway, people were sharing this blog on WeChat because it mentioned that on April 8, policies were updated to allow foreigners who test positive to stay at home instead of going to the quarantine centers. (Also it says households with children under 2, elderly people over 80, and people with "a special medical situation" would be allowed to stay home.) This blog is the only place I've heard that, so I don't know if it's the actual policy, but I have seen people talking about it in the international groups on WeChat (they also read that blog and are wondering if it's the real policy). People saying "we have foreign neighbors who tested positive and are staying at home, so hmm maybe that is the policy" and "we have elderly neighbors who tested positive and are staying at home."
Honestly, I can see why the government wouldn't want to make an official announcement about this policy (if indeed it is the real policy?). Because, don't you think most people who test positive would rather stay at home than go to a quarantine center with very questionable conditions? (I've seen the word 无人性 [inhumane] in WeChat posts describing the quarantine centers... I don't think all of them are that bad, some are probably okay, but do you really want to try your luck with that?) If Chinese people find out that international people don't have to go there, Chinese people would be MAD. Of course they would!
Also, I have heard about neighbors getting mad when someone tests positive and is allowed to stay at home. There is fear that the covid-positive person will infect their neighbors. If you have covid, your neighbors likely want you removed.
Anyway, I saw this Austrian China blog shared on WeChat, but note that it's hosted on Substack, which is not accessible in China without VPN. (Wordpress and Pillowfort blogs are accessible. Substack, Tumblr, and Blogspot are not. So yeah my blog is blocked in China. *shrug*) So only people with VPN can actually read it.
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Free pandemic supplies from the government
Yesterday every household in our complex received a free package containing masks, medicine to treat covid, and self-test kits. (The medicine is the same lianhua medicine I mentioned here.) So that's nice.
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Lockdown ends in some places
Yesterday (April 11), Shanghai announced that all of the apartment complexes in the city would be categorized thusly:
- Locked down areas: These are places where there has been a positive covid case within the past 7 days. Must do another 7 days of lockdown + 7 days of health monitoring. (Though honestly, what counts as "lockdown" and what counts as "health monitoring" is really open to interpretation- in both of them, you can't leave your complex, but maybe your apartment management will put additional rules on you during the "lockdown" phase.) There are 7624 apartment complexes in this category.
- Managed and controlled areas: These are places that have had no positive cases in the past 7 days (but did have positive cases in the past 14 days, I think? This is not stated clearly...). Must do 7 days of health monitoring (ie, can't leave the complex). There are 2460 apartment complexes in this category.
- Precautionary areas: These are places that have had no positive cases in the past 14 days. They are free from lockdown! (But strongly encouraged not to really go out much anyway.) There are 7565 apartment complexes in this category.
(This is similar to the definitions they published on March 31, but not exactly the same!)
And they said that soon each district will publish their lists of all the complexes and which category they are in. (Though really you can figure it out yourself by just looking at the most recent date when a covid case was reported. I saw a link shared on WeChat where you can type in your address and it will look up the information on when you had covid cases there and make a prediction on when your lockdown would end. None of that is official though- really the lockdown only ends when the government notifies your apartment management that they are allowed to end it.)
Our complex is certainly in the "locked down" category (though Pudong hasn't published their list yet, so it's not official).
Anyway, yesterday (April 11), some places were released from lockdown. Hooray! I saw a few videos on WeChat- people were very happy, going out and standing in the middle of the empty streets... There's nowhere to go though, everything is closed and public transportation isn't running.
Hopefully, with some of the lockdowns ending, it will mean restaurants and grocery stores will be back to normal (for delivery at least, maybe not in-person dining) and then it will be easier for those of us in lockdown to get food delivered.
So what does it mean? It makes me feel like we've turned a corner, and things will get better from here, but I don't know. Then again, maybe not, because they are still setting up more and more quarantine sites... the past few days, there have been about 20,000 new cases reported every day. (And actually, there is a delay between when someone tests positive and when it's counted in the news articles... As far as we can tell, it is published in the news when the person actually arrives at the quarantine site, which could be several days after testing positive. So I feel like we can't get a sense for how the trend is going- is it kind of levelling off, or do they just not have capacity to bring more than 20,000 people to the quarantine sites per day?)
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Anyway, I guess I will reassure you again that I am fine, and my husband and son are fine- we have enough food. I will keep posting more updates as more things happen~
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And some links from Sixth Tone:
For the Takeout-Hungry, Shanghai’s Lockdown Is a Pressure Cooker (April 11)
‘Group-Buying’ Becomes a Lifeline for Hungry Shanghai Residents (April 10)
After Shanghai, Other Cities Brace for Potential Omicron Surge (April 11)
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Next post: Lockdown Diaries: Dystopian Madness
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