A Shanghai people are not afraid of virusbut from being found positive to i test. “We are four, we are terrified that divide us, ”says a man locked up with his whole family in his apartment. “Do you know what the ugliest aspect is? There public humiliationthat is, the fact that on groups WeChat of the condominium, neighbors target those who test positive, putting pressure on the residential community to be shipped to the shelter centers as soon as possible. They are afraid”. This is the result of the measure – incomprehensible to many – according to which even i positive asymptomatic they are picked up and locked up in the so-called centralized structures, those buildings for congresses, sports facilities, even swimming pools, in which they are stored, with or without prefabricated booths, generally without showers and with the recommendation to even bring toilet paper from home. Thus, on the one hand, there are families terrified by the looming threat of being divided; on the other, neighbors equally frightened by the fact that – it is not known how – the virus could circulate in the condominium if someone was infected.
Lockdown, informing and hard punch – Le authority of Shanghai justified the choice of centralized quarantine also for the asymptomatic saying that the virus is spreading mainly within families in lockdown and therefore you have to break the chain of “intra-family” transmission to reduce cases quickly and return to a normal life as soon as possible. On the dock there are also the deliveries of contaminated food he Facilities of ventilation of apartment buildings, which could promote the circulation of the virus by air, as well as other common structures, such as stairs, handrails. But if they are all in lockdown, how is it possible that the virus is transmitted like this? On social media, the inmates of Shanghai denounce the unfortunate organization for which recurring tests are often done all together, down in the courtyard. And then the authorities argue that we must “interrupt the chain of transmission”. So people are terrified and indulge in report and to the public humiliation of the unfortunate positive, easily identifiable because the rumor circulates on the WeChat groups that serve to communicate with officials of the residential committee. On April 14th there was a half insurrection in a community in the district of Pudong, because the authorities wanted to requisition some buildings within the housing complex to adapt them to quarantine centers. There was also news that they wanted to expropriate already inhabited apartments, news that at the moment is not confirmed. The photos circulating on the Net show people being carried away by security officers in white overalls, others lie down on the ground, someone opposes, others beg.
The 80-year-olds who don’t get vaccinated – Nowadays there are few who believe in public health measures inspired by science. The P factor, that is politics, is the predominant one. The Chinese authorities used their winner in a propaganda key anti-Covid strategy of dynamic zeroing, i.e. the isolation of outbreaks on the model of what has been done a Wuhan at the beginning of 2020. The Chinese have lived for two years immersed in the narration of one Happy China-island where people don’t die of Covid, unlike United States ed Europa. All sacrosanct, but with the advent of Omicron – that is, an extremely viral but not lethal variant – continuing with the old recipe is the effort of Sisyphus. On April 15 they registered in Shanghai 23 thousand new infections, of which almost 20 thousand asymptomatic. Daily growth may have peaked, having hit twelve records in thirteen days (more than 26,000 new cases were reported on April 14). However, the number of symptomatic patients admitted to hospital seems to increase: no deaths, but nine patients in condition criticisms and they are all people between 70 and 93 years, with others pathologies in progress. The fact that the authorities have communicated and underlined this fact is to be read as a form of psychological pressure against all those elderly people who still do not get vaccinated. The data speak for themselves: they are precisely the over eighty, that is, the weakest age group, the most reluctant to get vaccinated. Nationally, just over 50 percent of them completed the three-dose cycle. Since the government justifies the zero tolerance precisely with the need to protect life, all the others wonder why vaccination is not imposed on the old, while there are those who would not exclude the hypothesis of letting them die, with a renowned contrary spirit filial piety of Confucian mold.
Between gig economy and barter – In Shanghai residential communities who remember the war of all against all of the Condominium di Ballard (but perhaps the entire metropolis is a Ballard Condominium), there is no shortage of forms of solidaritysuch as buying groups inside blocks of flats in lockdown to procure basic necessitiesmaking collective orders in the area supermarkets, given that the large prompt-delivery companies of the gig economy they work in fits and starts. A contact de Ilfattoquotidiano.it who is coordinating various purchasing groups in his condominium tells us that it is practically a job: he is constantly attached to his smartphone to collect orders and forward them to the various outlets in the area, which usually only accept them at certain times. Both the other work, the real one, is suspended at indefinite period. It must be said that he has returned to the great barter: diapers for potatoes, meat for toilet paper and so on. In the sign of “positive thinking”, uplifting stories appear above all in the state media, such as that of Yang Yaosenready-for-delivery and member of the district committee for the prevention and control of epidemics, which from the beginning of the Shanghai outbreak would have spent about 70mila yuan out of his own pocket (over 10 thousand euros) to feed the needy. True story? False? Certainly well thought out: theproletarian hero who sacrifices himself for the common good reminds us of many precedents of the Chinese epic.
The “knights” from 1,500 euros per day – The ready-to-deliveries are however also in the crosshairs of criticism because, in addition to being suspected as potential infectors, they are said to take advantage of it. On April 9, making as many as 60 deliveries, an “intra-urban rider” (that’s how they are called) from the delivery company Shunfeng (SF) earned 10,067.75 yuan (1,458 euros), which is typically roughly a monthly pay. Most of the income came from mance. In fact, it is estimated that for each delivery he has pocketed about 36.9 yuan of compensation due and 131 yuan of tips. This story coincides with the anecdotes that are heard: being few left and having the monopoly of that very scarce resource which is the mobility in the lockdown metropolis, deliveries enjoy one in the current situation annuity position that – despite the grueling shifts and the infamous work – allows them to maximize profits. There are people locked up in the house who pay a tip to get the gatto to the vet or to have other extra services that one usually does on their own. But there is also another aspect. The same SF has gladly confirmed the news circulated on the Net (with screenshots) of the ready-to-ship that has earned a lot of money. The fact is that this news is pure gold for those companies of the gig economy (and technology in general) that in the last year and a half have ended up in the crosshairs of the authorities because they have expanded without rules. unfair competition and above all they exploit without restraint the workforce with the 996 formula (from 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening for 6 days a week). The message is: since you just want to work? Before envying or blaming the prompt delivery who earned his monthly salary in one day, it is necessary to know that the boy in question has been sleeping under the bridge for days. He has decided to leave his residential community in order not to end up locked in the house.
The speculation of private drivers – Deliveries are a cross and a delight for trapped Shanghai people, as well as other workers. Circulate a Go with me for those wishing to leave Shanghai from Pudong airport. Apart from the fact that you must already have the flight ticket as well as the green light of their residential community to leave – which is not too difficult, after all this is one less to look after – the private drivers who have obtained it is not known how a permit to access the airport is charged these days between 1,500 and 12,000 yuan (or 1,740 euros) depending not only on personal greed, but also on the time it will take to do everything , because before leaving you have to go for a test of the swab in any of the centers that remained open (estimated time from leaving home to take-off: 11 hours). Thus also circulates the story of a fugitive who went to the airport on foot, taking 9 hours. The most disliked category, however, is that of nature – that is, those in white hazmat suits – the thousands of workers and volunteers who interact with the recluse population, offering services and at the same time exercising control: from employees in residential communities, to security forces, passing through the personnel carrying out the tests. They are both Shanghai and volunteers from abroad and these days we often read the comparison with the red guards and to the Cultural Revolution – which in the collective imagination is the worst of the worst – since in this dystopian space-time, they have the power to tell you what to do and what not to do.
Beijing’s fears – It appeared briefly on WeChat – before being censored – the telephone conversation between a neighborhood committee employee and a named elder Yu, who complained about his scarce supplies of food, medicine, and said he was not allowed to go to a doctor even though he was feverish. The employee first lost his temper, then apologized and said he felt helpless, collecting Yu’s solidarity. Meanwhile, a Beijing, someone begins to stock up on food after witnessing the Shanghai chaos. Generally, it is thought that a similar situation cannot be repeated in the capital because since last autumn the security measures they were much stiffer than in Shanghai and above all because Omicron had already arrived during Winter Olympics, but it seems that it has been managed to contain it by isolating individual residential communities (at this moment there are some in lockdown but life flows normally in the rest of the city). However, there is no certainty. Better fill in the refrigerator.
–
