Thread by @Jaredtnelson

Day 16 of our Covid lockdown in Shanghai today and food is the key thing on people’s minds

We aren’t allowed to leave home so delivery is the only way

I was up at 6 am yesterday trying to get any kind of delivery but nothing was available all day

So far, same results today

People outside of Shanghai asked me what it means that nothing is available for food delivery

It means that you cannot get food, at all

No vegetables
No fruit
No rice
No bread
Nothing

I try all of the apps and all of the stores, nothing is available - at least where I live

It’s not the same situation all over Shanghai, and some areas seem to have more access to food, but in our apartment area we haven’t been able to get anything recently and people are getting very frustrated and worried

And we’re not in a remote area of the city - we have three large supermarkets within a 10-15 minute walk and are next to a major highway

I’m fully vaccinated, have been locked down for 16 days now without contact with anyone except immediate family and close neighbors, and have tested negative all nine rounds of tests while being locked down

But I’m not allowed to leave home to go find food

Our family of four is not in any medical danger right now, but we are low on anything resembling nutritious for our two young children after 16 days (we have been in lockdown longer than most parts of the city due to a Covid+ case in our apartment community several weeks ago)

We’re not starving and we have some food still at home, but our supplies are quickly diminishing, especially for the kids, and the availability of delivery has been getting worse for us - it went from very sporadic last week to non existent during the past few days

The key for deliveries has been getting them early in the morning right when the stores open on the apps

I timed it carefully but the best I could do was an order for bread, potatoes, and a few small things to be delivered “before Wednesday”

It’s 10:30 am now so the key window of time has passed to book orders and it’s very unlikely I’ll be able to find anything to be delivered today

But I’ll keep trying, all day

This seems to be getting a lot of attention - thank you everyone for your concern and kind words

We are worried, but we are safe and healthy and together and in a much better situation than a lot of others so we are considering ourselves lucky

We will make it through this ok

We were able to work together with many neighbors to finally have a bulk purchase and delivery this afternoon

We got eggs, fish, and milk, and a generous neighbor also gave us some garlic

Neighbors working together will get us through this

Thank you to everyone here for the ideas, suggestions, and support!

Tomorrow will be another difficult day, but at least right now we have fresh food and new optimism!

上海加油！