Shanghai lockdown life: a daily scramble for food, community burger runs or feeling jealous of the stray cats outside
- With the whole city effectively locked down, residents face a daily race to order fresh food online before stocks run out due to high demand
- Others are forming community groups to buy essentials or treats and are questioning when they will be allowed outside again
Many locals are now having to get up at 6am in the hope of being able to order vegetables and meat online before stocks run out, meaning the song’s lyrics – “Scramble for vegetables. We scramble for vegetables together. After scrambling for vegetables, we do the nucleic acid test together” – have struck a chord with many in the city.
A woman nicknamed Fangfang from the western Putuo district said she was already developing a routine.
The building where she lives had already been locked down for two days before Friday’s order came into force because a resident was a close contact of a positive case.
“I set the alarm clock to wake me up at 5.45am every day … The ordering time on many apps starts at 6am. So when the time arrives, I just place orders and make payments,” she said.
“But given that too many people use those apps at the same time, the websites will be down from time to time. In this scenario, you need to be patient and try multiple times. Sometimes I need to re-run the apps dozens of times before making orders successfully,” said Fangfang.
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She said that some products were not available at the moment, but her residential complex had distributed free packages of vegetables and meat to residents, alleviating some of the pressure of storing food.
“We choose to eat one dish less per meal,” Fangfang said. “Before the coronavirus outbreak, my family – my husband, me and our eight-year-old son – ate three dishes per meal, but now two.”
Some people have also formed teams for joint shopping orders, including one residents’ group in a luxury complex in Pudong who hit the headlines recently after spending around 20,000 yuan (US$3,150) on burgers from a high-end brand.
A member of another residents’ buying group, Eileen Xiao, said her community of over 1,000 households in Pudong had been locked down since March 15 after several positive cases were detected.
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“I found it was difficult for me to buy food from any app or website. In the meanwhile, my community has these buying groups which are convenient,” Xiao said, adding that besides basics they could buy treats such as coffee, cakes and burgers.
But she expressed concern that residents needed to mix together to collect their orders when they arrived, increasing the risk of spreading infections.
“I have complained about this problem to the project management company, but they said it’s not their business,” she said.
The 41-year-old is pregnant and has not been vaccinated and said she was worried that if she picked up the virus it could harm her baby.
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Xiao, who admitted she sometimes argued with her husband over household chores, said she was worried about how long the community lockdown would continue even though she has a week’s supply of food.
“Recently another positive case was found. I think the lockdown end date seems further away,” she sighed.
Michael He, a white-collar worker in the city, said he was busier working from home because he also had to help his daughter, a primary school pupil, with her school work and make lunch for her.
“I need to remind her to attend online classes, print revision materials as required by her teachers and help her upload her homework to a platform where her teachers check it. I am as busy as a bee,” he said.
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The lockdown now effectively covers the whole city and residents are even banned from going to outdoor areas with few people around.
Some communities have used drones to disperse residents strolling or exercising outside, while some dog owners have expressed concern about the impact on their pets, saying they are trained to do their business outside and have not defecated for several days.
A woman named Wang, from Minhang district, said she had been locked down for two weeks and had started to feel jealous of the local stray cats.
“They can walk around in our community’s garden freely on this beautiful spring day. How happy they are! However, we have to stay at home and I have no idea when we can have this luxury of going outside,” she said.
