In Shanghai, system D and mutual aid to survive confinement

From our correspondent in Beijingwith Louise May

Miss Zhao is aware that she was lucky. This 29-year-old Shanghainese has been locked up at home for 14 days. She lives in the Putuo district located west of the Huangpu River which crosses the city. Unlike the inhabitants of the eastern shore, confined without notice, she had time to prepare for this house arrest due to Covid resurgence. Except that he had been told it was going to last… five days.

Apples against glasses of soda

“We only had two supplies in twelve days, confides to RFI the young woman who works in the cultural sector. Once it was Chinese cabbage and a duck leg, the other it was three packets of ravioli! » Duck and dumplings, what are we complaining about gossip on the weibo network, accusing Shanghainese of complaining all the time, especially at mealtimes. Except that this supply by the neighborhood committee is largely insufficient. The inhabitants had to organize themselves to find something to eat, reports Caixin magazine.

Unity is strength ! Miss Zhao and her neighbors set up a group on the messenger WeChat to order food from outside We started group purchases on April 7 or 8, remembers the young woman. Because we quickly realized that otherwise, it was no longer possible to have it delivered. The principle is simple: if you need something, you say it in the group and everyone adds ‘+ 1’. And Dnce there are 30 of us wanting to buy vegetables, we call the merchant! This is the only solution, otherwise we can also exchange things between neighbors. The other day, I traded two apples for two glasses of coke with a guy on my floor. “.

Group purchases and lack of delivery people

Shanghainese do the same as Wuhanese or residents of other cities confined in China since the start of the pandemic. Why group purchases? Because it is difficult to order. “Orders don’t come until six in the morning, but you can try all possible shopping sites: either they’re out of stock or there aren’t enough delivery people,” explains a young Shanghainese videographer to Mediapart. Whenever the virus comes back, supply chains are the first to suffer and this is especially true in Shanghai. Online grocers only sell in bulk, because the real problem with this confinement is first and foremost the lack of delivery people: “At the start of confinement, thehe city of Shanghai suspended delivery services continues Miss Zhao. I remember that in Wuhan, supplies came from Beijing, from Shanghai, from Changsha. But here they have turned off the tap and the citizens can no longer buy food. And when you can do it, it’s very expensive! The other time we placed a bulk order. The delivery man asked us for 2 000 yuan to bring it. »

Anger over food shortages

Nearly 300 euros… that makes delivery expensive, even collectively. We are not in the supermarket, the food often arrives raw, without packaging. Sharing is done in the hall of the building. “We fetch the rice in basins in the hall of the residence”, says a user. Another claims to have bought chives in a flower pot for 1,200 yuan (170 euros). On the messengers, tips for growing vegetables at home are flourishing, but it may take time.

Discontent invades the networks. Some crack, like this man shouting that he does not know what to eat or drink, in the courtyard of his residence on April 6th. The first week of April was one of the most difficult for the confined, especially on the east bank. Because if group purchases have more or less worked for large complexes, for buildings of a few floors or isolated, it is more complicated. Especially since many were left surprised. The pre-confinements of the megalopolis, at the beginning of March, suggested that everything was fine and many households found themselves without sufficient reserves, when the city was submerged by the Omicron wave.

Prepare the freezer

To ease the pressure a little, Monday, April 11, the authorities lifted the lid slightly by announcing an easing of containment in certain districts. Online grocers, such as Jindong and Meituan, have also pledged to step up efforts to speed up refueling. The residences concerned by the reductions did not register any new cases of Covid within 14 days, but the difficulties in having deliveries for the others have not disappeared. Some do not hesitate to let it be known, as during this recent visit to a residence by local officials. The message, always the same, is addressed to the suits and ties below, from the windows of the towers: “ we have trouble ordering food! »

Not to be surprised, some take the lead. The hashtag “shopping in Shanghai” is still censored, recalls the site WhatsOnWeibo, but others were able to stay online for a few days. The subject “what do I have to prepare in case of confinement” has attracted more than 41 million views, reports the South China Morning Post, while the food shelves were stormed in cities still preserved by the epidemic outbreak. Freezer sellers are rubbing their hands. The WeChat application has been invaded by images of fridges full to bursting.

Do not spoil the lives of neighbors

For the Shanghainese, it’s too late! You have to take your troubles patiently, concedes Ms. Zhao, a little pessimistic about the upcoming outcome of this new epidemic crisis: “ Even if your confinement is lifted, dshe, you can’t go anywhere! If you go out and you are positive you are ruining the lives of all your neighbors and no one wants that “, Continues the young Shanghainese, screen copy of the health card in support. On the screen of his phone, a sea of ​​red dots representing the places where infected people have passed in his neighborhood.

Ms. Zhao is worried about a friend who can’t leave her house: “My friend suffers from depression, she has stopped taking her treatment because she is out of medication. All pharmacies are closed and there is no delivery either. But it should be better, some areas are now deconfined. » Like many in Shanghai, Miss Zhao hopes Omicron will eventually back down.

The health authorities have for the moment decided to continue the “zero covid” strategy, of strict containment of positive cases. A strategy that has prevented many deaths linked to viral pneumonia in China, but with many collateral damage for the economy and health. People with diabetes or suffering from mental illness are the first victims of the lack of care due to the isolation of hospitals, Shanghai doctors recently claimed, emerging a study carried out on the first three months of the pandemic in Wuhan.