Shanghai Lockdown Day #14: Misrepresentation of WHO COVID Data
Pandemic Diaries #15
Hello friends,
Today marks:
Entirety of Shanghai lockdown day #14
My community lockdown day #27
The general atmosphere in Shanghai is tense, anxiety-ridden. We can’t stop refreshing our Wechat newsfeeds, re-blogging the many, many cries for help, which inevitably get erased, in a few hours time.
My friend, who trusted the government to take care of its people at the beginning of lockdown, now says he feels abandoned by the country, by the government, by everyone outside of Shanghai. 24.8 million people are left to fend for ourselves. The government hotlines do not work. Ambulances take days to arrive. Barely any food rations have arrived. Trash is festering on the streets. No medicine can be bought, even the dead has to receive a community pass to be taken out of their homes.
And there is still no ending in sight.
Most importantly, there are no answers, no official reason given to why lockdown is still going on.
“WHY HAS OUR SHANGHAI BECOME LIKE THIS?”
On April 13th, a recording of a phone call went viral on Wechat. An elderly man was asking his district community worker for help. (his district is a few streets away from my apartment)
When I first listened, I assumed it was going to be a frustrating call with bureaucracy. The community worker sounded cold, unemotionally responding to the elderly man’s request to call an ambulance.
The elderly man was suffering from chronic illnesses and had no food left. The man answered he has been reporting his condition to his superiors for days but has heard no response. There was nothing he could do. He had no resources, either.
But as the call went on, the volunteer became more and more desperate. When the elderly man said,"Why has our Shanghai become like this?" The volunteer breaks down, he feels so helpless, he truly wants to help, and he tells the elderly man:
"You only see terrible conditions for one person. I witness nearly 100 cases like yours every day. And yet there is nothing I can do. I report it to my superiors, and I get no response. I don’t know why Shanghai has become like this either. I don’t understand.”
He sighs, long and hard. It was heartbreaking to hear.
And now, the elderly man is the one comforting him. “I really understand you,” he replies, “We will get through this.”
This post was soon deleted. Just like all the other deleted posts, many of which have 100,000+ views, and the comment sections are their own public squares.
Below is the comments section of a viral post from last night, called “上海人的忍耐已经到了极限” —Shanghaiers have reached our limit.
The article began with:
现在的上海人，每天晚上清点完冰箱忧心忡忡地睡下，
Now Shanghaiers go to bed after worriedly checking the content of their fridge,
每天早上抢完菜后忐忑不安地点开上海发布的数据，
every morning fighting for veggies then anxiously checking the new COVID Data
接着开启一天的核酸、抗原、团购、骂娘，
Then begins another day of Covid Testing, take home COVID testing, bulk-ordering, cursing,
以及求助。And asking for help.
不知道为什么，每天都有刷新底线的事件。
Don’t know why, there are new terrible things that break our limits everyday.
Then, stories of the people who’ve died during lockdown, all due to inability to access hospitals or ambulances— BECAUSE of the idiotic policy: emergency rooms require a 24 hr negative COVID test.
The medical system is in suspension—most doctors are out here called to do endless Covid tests. There are no new appointments, no surgeries, no medication, no chemo, no dialysis, and the ambulances take days to come. Even if the ambulance comes, you can’t get a pass from the community to leave. Or you don’t have a valid 24 hr Covid test.
This is a man-made closure of the medical system— and the full scale of the damage is yet to be seen. Shanghai is the medical capital of China, with top-tier resources. People from all over the country come here seeking medical help.
Some other stories shared in the article:
A father of a 5 year old and stable cancer patient died after suddenly feeling discomfort. After being told his covid test from the day before was invalid, he was told to get a new Covid test.
His last words on earth? Mom, can you check if my Covid test has come out?
Two hours after he left, his Covid test came back negative.
A 14-day old baby tested positive, and the baby was to be separated and taken to a hospital. Her grandma stood on the balcony and threatened to jump if they took the baby. This happened after the press conference saying children below seven can stay with parents who tested positive.
The comments in the temporal public square:
1. Whoever deletes this article, should die ( 674,000 likes)
2.Shanghai was great because of its people, not the government (210,000 likes)
3. They do not deserve such amazing citizens! (130,000 likes)
And yet, those outside of Shanghai STILL seem to not know what is going on, because there is no reportage in the official news channels.
The major news on TV today was of President Xi visiting the national parks.
So even though my Wechat newsfeed is FILLED with cries for help and first person accounts about what is really going, my friends from outside of Shanghai still have little idea. Wechat newsfeeds is like a FB newsfeed where the default setting is “friends only.” So only your immediate contacts will see your posts, and your friends have to repost your content for it to get reach beyond your circle.
My friends in other areas of China are shocked to see my posts about the situation in Shanghai because our newsfeeds are so insular— another reason Shanghaigers feel so abandoned by the rest of the country.
As many other cities in China are gradually also imposing harsher restrictions against the imminent spread of Omicron, we might all be trapped in our own immediate news cycles.
MISREPRESENTATION OF WHO COVID REPORT
The official state media CCTV (央视新闻) posted a translation of the WHO report, saying: In many countries, deaths due to Omicron is even higher than that at the peak of other Covid strains.
The original WHO report actually says the # of new cases and deaths due to Omicron is decreasing.
Netizens are furious at this misrepresentation, though others pointed out CCTV wasn’t exactly lying: it just misrepresented the WHO report by shifting the order of the data, highlighting a small data point of higher # of deaths and then downplaying the “decreasing trend.”
A COMMUNITY SOURCED LIST OF THE DEAD
People are collecting the names and stories of those who died in Shanghai recently.
I can’t find the article anymore — maybe deleted, and I didn’t screenshot in time. I hope we will find ways to remember them.
Among those, I remember the more famous stories, of the Hong Kou District Health Center Director committed suicide due to recent public pressures; of a woman who committed suicide after being cyber bullied for tipping the delivery worker 200 RMB (31 USD) (they said she tipped to little).
ONLINE MUTUAL AID HELP
Just as there is a list to mourn the dead, there is a list to help the living.
This website: “Let us help you”，founded by a group of volunteers,
is a community sourced cries for help, in the screenshot below, ranked by level of emergency, includes:
baby needs diapers
late-stage pregnancy needs to go to the hospital
Sepsis emergency
Uremia patient who tested positive needs to go do dialysis
Brain Infarction & high blood pressure medication
Blocked milk duct emergency
SEALING CLOSE CONTACTS OF POSITIVE CASES INSIDE THEIR HOMES/ CARS
An old couple used to call a bicycle garage/shelter, with no running water and restroom, their home. Since the grandpa got tested positive for covid, he has been transferred to a central quarantine location, and the granny, as a close contact to a covid-positive patient, is being sealed inside of the garage by community. The video shows the granny preparing for isolation by collecting water with all the containers she could get.
A pregnant woman has lived out of her car for the past 16 days, after she tested positive and her neighborhood community did not allow her to return. Her husband was taken away to a temporary hospital but she was told, they did not have quota for her.
PLEASE CONTROL YOU INTAKE & OUTPUT
Even if you are not forcibly sealed inside your home, all community operations have come to a standstill— so trash has not been taken out, cesspools uncleaned.
A letter from the community to one residential area:
Dear Bai Yu Yuan Residents:
During the time of epidemic, everyone is staying at home. It is recommended that everyone live a simple and slow life. In recent days, there has been an increase of group purchases, and the hidden risk of infection is also increasing. Everyone should buy life necessities in groups, and try to minimize group buying of luxury items. Now everyone eats and cooks three meals at home. Garbage is also a problem. The sewers are easily blocked, and the cesspool will fill up quickly. If it is full, there will be no people or trucks to pump the feces. We do not know when the lockdown will be lifted, so we advocate everyone to live a simpler life. When lockdown is over, we will all happily go out and enjoy life. Thank you for your cooperation, let's get through the epidemic together!
Bai Yu Yuan Residents Committee
Bai Yu Yuan Property Office
comment below: Our residential block is already advocating everyone not to eat three meals and to control bowel movements [facepalm]
NEWS ANCHOR SUGGESTS DIETING
Which also reminds me of the Shanghai News Station which advised people, during the initial 4-day lockdown, to treat it as a chance to try light-eating and intermittent fasting:
EMERGENCY HAIRCUTS
Now that people can bulk-order food, a creative community decided to “order” a barber. He cut 18 people's hair from morning to night.
Another barber in the temporary hospitals apparently had a thriving business in there, he doesn’t seem to want to leave, as outside, all businesses are still closed.
LIFE AFTER TEMPORARY HOSPITAL
On a similar note, a blog post documenting life in the temporary hospitals notes the people who do not want to leave— the migrant workers, construction workers who do not have a permanent place of shelter, who probably would not have a place to go upon leaving, as everywhere is shut down.
A lot of residential communities are not welcoming those who have stayed at temporary hospitals to return. Nor are hotels. So after living a hellish life in these poor conditions without showers, there is nowhere to go.
Even if people try to leave Shanghai, their health codes are still red and would not be accepted by other provinces.
HOME GARDENS
People are learning to grow fresh veggies like scallions and garlic (essential in Chinese diet) at homes. Since most people in Shanghai live in small apartments, balconies (if you are lucky to have one) are the only place to get a bit of fresh air.
A diary entry from my friend Stella:
“The green onion root I saved and kept in water has thrived. Couple of days ago it bloomed. I have never seen a green onion flower before. This one shapes like my toothbrush head after couple months of usage, waiting to be replaced after the lockdown is over.”
Thank you to my friends Winnie and Stella, and many others, for their generosity contributing photos and tips to this post! If you are in Shanghai, you are welcome to send me any news!
If you found this helpful, please feel free to share with others! Thank you as always for coming with me.
with love,
JinJin
Disclaimer: Since official media is still reporting all is in order in Shanghai, the stories I am collecting here are anecdotal, from my friend circles, or those shared on Wechat and Weibo— which is the main way people access “real” news. People spread them quickly before they are inevitably censored. I will try my best to verify and select trustworthy stories, but they are not all fact checked.
Here is the link to the community sourced list of the dead:
https://airtable.com/shrQw3CYR9N14a4iw/tblTv0f9KVySJACSN
As a former resident of Shanghai, I really appreciate your updates. Hope you are safe and well!