Before we were allowed to leave our building (but not community) to get deliveries - no more; now we are not allowed out of our apartment door
Each day 2 volunteers from each building are allowed out to collect deliveries for the whole building (I’m a volunteer)
We have to wear the full white suit during the process - mine was just delivered to me - and we only have a 2 hour window in the afternoon
If you have a delivery in the morning, for example of meat (if you are lucky enough to get that), it will sit at the gate until it is our time in the afternoon to get the delivery
The temperature in Shanghai right now, at 5 pm, is 80 F
Last night they took several of the Covid+ people from our community to a central quarantine site
From what we’ve heard, they didn’t arrive until 2 am and the conditions there are awful - no showers, portable toilets only, no hot water, and of course no privacy
That was a sad development, we were all hoping that the positive people would be able to quarantine at home
The new policies indicate that Shanghai lockdown will be lifted in some areas soon - but only if there are no positive cases close to you recently
Here’s a map (a little outdated, it’s worse now) of Covid+ cases in Shanghai
It looks like we are being required to do the administered testing downstairs tonight (instead of the home tests we have been doing - including twice yesterday)
Everyone will be outside, lining up for the tests, but then must go back home immediately, and not pick up deliveries
After the test, I will come back home, put on my white PPE suit, and go back out to pick up deliveries and bring them back to people in our building
Because it’s too risky for those people to be out to pick up deliveries - those people who are out for the tests in the long line
For my family, we had 3 deliveries that were booked to deliver today: 2 group purchases of meat/seafood + 1 individual purchase of soap and shampoo
All three were cancelled
But we did get a delivery sent from a friend in another part of the city with better access to groceries
I have become 大白, deliverer of foods
*大白 - da bai - means “big white”, an affectionate term for all of the wonderful hardworking healthcare workers and volunteers in these suits
A big thank you to all of the real 大白!!!
The tests we did tonight were our 16th during this lockdown, all 15 previous were negative
We recently had been very confident each test would be negative, but today we feel unsure
More and more people in our community are positive, possibly from these testing events
Thank you everyone for the kind comments and concerns
It’s been a difficult situation, but our family is together, we are safe, and we have enough food - through constant efforts - for the time being
Today was a big step backwards for us, but hopefully tomorrow will be better
Some important things to know about the situation in Shanghai:
It’s a huge city, and the circumstances are different everywhere
Our situation is bad, but a lot of people are much worse
Things can be absurd but also true: we can get cake easily, but not meat and fruit
For the media: I received dozens of requests for interviews; I won’t be doing any
If you want a good reflection of the story in our city, please look to someone other than a white American man
My threads here hopefully help show our challenges, but I’m not the face of Shanghai
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We received an official notice this morning that there were a dozen people in our apartment community who have tested positive
It was the first time we had this kind of official notice, which also listed the buildings and apartment numbers
We knew there were positive cases already, because people in the PPE suits had closed several buildings and were guarding the doors, but the high number was surprising
As far as we can tell, the positive cases are all still at home, and haven’t been taken to central quarantine
With the official notice, we are expecting some new rules later today that will probably be more restrictive
Currently, we’re allowed out of our apartment door to take out garbage, pick up deliveries, and get tested - that all might change
We got a delivery again, which is great news - some nice vegetables
The bag broke when I was walking home and they spilled on the ground, not too big of a deal because we thoroughly wash them anyway, but it was embarrassing and frustrating
The last time we got meat was five days ago - a tin of SPAM from a government delivery
But things seem to be getting better for food and drinking water
There’s even some local restaurants open now that deliver
This morning we did Covid tests again, the second city wide testing
Another beautiful day in Shanghai!
But, as usual, we were outside and back in the apartment in less than 5 minutes
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