SHANGHAI COVID-19 lockdown madness (1) 202

 Covid madness 

PANIC BUYING. 

in the west, especially the Uk and USA there was panic buying and mass purchase of toilet roll and alcohol. Here in Shanghai, China the first things to go were the instant noodles! 

  

PANICK BUYING & TESTING - perhaps we all knew it was going to be more than 4 days and half the city each time....

 

good old "nose rape" home tests. 

least it meant the end to daily morning PCR tests either at your door or outside in your community (spread the disease while you wait to be tested for it)

 

"guards" dressed in blue PCP gear keep check outside all locked areas - Covid wardens. (Xiao lan 小蓝 little blue )

 
 

It was insane. like something from an Orwell novel, a crazy dystopian world nightmare. 

There wasn't really food shortages. there were shops with food, but no-one was working in them and no-one was allowed out of their house to get the food. all deliveries had stopped, nothing could get in or out of the city. even if you had a flight to leave the country at the start of the lockdowns....you weren't getting the flight if you were locked down... .even if the airport was open and flights were permitted you weren't getting out, even if it was to leave the country....(but they did close and divert all flights but after a few weeks they did permit them, but you needed many tests and special permission and proof etc. it was complicated but many paid thousands of dollars to escape the madness, many leaving for good not caring for belongings or price. Anything to get away from the fangcang threat, the threat of being separated from your kids or pets etc.,)

finally they agreed to keep parents and children together. and groups we started in communities / compounds for helping each other with foods and pet fostering help if you were taken away. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgrKTUmsTMg

FANG CANG 防仓 Shanghai COVID quarantine centers.

you weren't scared of getting covid and getting sick. you were scared of getting covid and the authorities finding out and taking you to one of these centres, forced against your will. many prepared a case with necessities to have at hand incase they were suddenly take. either because they, or someone in their family had contracted covid. or because someone in your building was positive and everyone was being taken as a precaution..

like a concentration camp for the "sick". hundreds to thousands packed together in often poorly furnished centres. hundreds of people sharing only a few cubicles of toilets. it was unsanitary. if you were sick before you went, you would be sick with something by the time you left. Food, sleeping arrangements, poor hygene, lack of washing and bathroom facilities. No privacy. everyone's worst nightmare. videos circulated leaving everyone in terror at the thought of being taken (usually in the night) it was like living in a horror movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcqz5xbOT8Q

this one is considered luxurious (perhaps why the foreigners got sent to it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFRStCxWuo0

They sent us food packages, a random combination of vegetables and other foods, maybe some packaged meat products, or pasta or something random once or twice week. For us it was ok, we had a kitchen, but some places maybe only had a kettle, if they were lucky also an electric hotplate. I was very worried about my Chinese friend in Minhang! We were original an apartment with 6 people, however mainly fled just before the lockdown so we only had 4(including myself) we all stocked some food in advance, own roommate had lots of spices and an oven which he let us all use which was great but we were careful. some of us weren't getting paid our salaries (like me and the young Chinese guy who worked in the bar) and we were still expected to pay rent (very unfair). It wasn't the easiest time. 

silly emails.....LOL! really really not....

 I don't think people would go then, even if you paid them. 

Many fled just before the lockdowns. many tried to leave during (to other countries) and just when it opened up "officially" millions more went back to their hometowns. but it didn't matter....they spread the lockdowns procedures into the other cities......no escape 

FREEDOM?!

  

when freedom finally comes

 

just when you thinks its over

surprise 2 day July lock

guess when I was locked in and which days I got out??

we had a building group chat and group chats for every 2 floors (we had 26 in total, we lived on 26, the top floor) we got locked in again because someone on floor 15 was a close contact. This means that they didn't have cover but had been near someone who did so maybe (just maybe) they could be infected. and maybe, just maybe you passed them in the building corridor or lift and so... the whole building was to be locked down until they were given the all clear. (if you were positive the whole building would be taken to a fangcang at the start) thankfully, after the official city lock down ended they adjusted the rules a little. So this time, rather than 2-3 weeks of lockdown we would be locked down and tested for 2 days. if no one was positive then we would open again but still need to check and be tested every day for the next 12 days...... we were lucky and she wasn't positive so we could go out again after the 2 days. still super annoying and pointless though. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjXwcfEyfDk