The Human Cost of Shanghai’s Covid-19 Lockdown: Helplessness, Isolation, Despair
Residents who lived through the city’s battle against the virus share deeply personal accounts.
But Shanghai also stands out to illustrate the human cost when China’s Covid policies go awry.
Three months after authorities announced the beginning of an experimental two-phase lockdown of the city, here are deeply personal accounts of the ordeal from four residents.
Their feelings of helplessness, isolation and despair. The mounting anxiety over basic needs such as food and safety that felt like an echo from China’s past; cascading mental health concerns; the urge to escape the city; and the risk of new lockdowns should the virus return.
As supplies at her compound ran short, she volunteered to bulk-order and distribute food to residents.
Her first order was pork. She spent 13 hours on WeChat, taking orders and answering neighbors’ questions, logging everything onto a spreadsheet. The pork arrived six days later.
“If we waited for government supplies, we’d be starving," she said.
That was when Mrs. Liu realized that the mental toll of living under China’s zero-Covid policies had become unbearable.
It was also when she and her Singaporean husband agreed that by year’s end, they would leave the city where they’d met and which is the only home their four children—aged two to 12—have known.
“You can only prepare for what you can imagine. Things that happened were unimaginable,” she said.
She is now saying farewell to friends and selling unwanted furniture.
“Everyone says: ‘Are you excited?’ But no, I’m just sad. I’m sad for the city. My city. I love this city,” she said.
Mr. Yin, who declined to be identified by his full name, had seen it up close. After moving back to Shanghai from Wuhan two years ago, he told his parents to make sure they always had enough food for two months: 50 cans of meat and fish, 130 pounds of rice.
“I poured the bok choy out and washed the pot quickly and started to bang it,” she said.
A dozen neighbors were soon bashing pans until someone called the police. A food parcel arrived the next day.
For a moment, Ms. Xu felt a connection with neighbors she had rarely spoken to since moving from Fujian province four years ago.
“I realized that it is not just me feeling emotional. It is not just me feeling angry, feeling unhappy, feeling upset,” she said.
Produced by Leah Latella and Patrick Whalen