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Letter from Jared T. Nelson, Shanghai
Day 47 of our Shanghai Covid lockdown and we woke up, like we often do, to a man in a hazmat suit downstairs yelling through a bull horn for us to come down for our tests While checking our phones for the new test QR code, we also saw this alarming new official notice sent to us
The key points are: 1) We must stay inside our apartment and not leave our front door, except for going downstairs for testing This was not a change for us, and it was a little strange to see it reiterated again
2) All deliveries are prohibited during the weekend (Friday midnight to Sunday midnight); nothing will be allowed in No food No water Nothing So we are encouraged to cancel all deliveries and ask for refunds because nothing that is delivered to the community gates will come in There was a lot of pushback about this from everyone around and eventually some of the government people and property management people said that they “might” arrange for some group purchases but it would be difficult, and that’s when we found out why (Not confirmed by me directly but from a neighbor, who also shared a photo that seems legitimate) It seems that barriers have been set up that are blocking the roads for several streets around us, so the delivery drivers can’t even make it to the gates of our apartment community 
That reasoning seems clear – deliveries are halted because the roads are closed Of course, I’m not allowed to leave my front door, let alone our apartment community gates, in order to verify that The result of the new announcement and the new street barricades is that we are locked down in Shanghai, not allowed to leave our apartment door (except for going downstairs to do Covid tests), and are also not allowed to get any deliveries of food, or drinking water, or anything They sent the announcement on Friday morning to go into effect at midnight, and from my understanding this applies not just to our apartments but to many in the area Panic buying and hoarding started immediately, of course, and all same day deliveries were instantly fully booked This was a shock for us because cases had been improving steadily recently Yesterday, there were only 23 new cases identified outside of the quarantine zones
>>>>
#Shanghai reported 245 locally transmitted #COVID19 cases, 4,024 local asymptomatic infections, two imported asymptomatic infections and 12 deaths on Thursday, said the Shanghai Health Commission on Friday morning. shine.cn/news/metro/220
Fortunately for many of us in the area, deliveries had been improving this week and we were able to restock some of our pantries I was even fortunate enough to get a delivery of some hot sauces and other key condiments today at 10 pm, just before the cutoff! Thanks
Back to this morning, we went down for the testing because it seemed like another mandatory day where they really push you to do the testing (some days it feels more like a suggestion) Their new method is to first do a home antigen test (four for us) and then, if negative, bring the plastic test pieces down with you to do the PCR test They check the antigen test downstairs and take it from you, which seems like a better system to avoid fraud or tampering What I didn’t anticipate, when I put all 4 in my pocket, was that our fresh antigen tests still had some of the liquid left in the little dropper area Which of course leaked through my pocket to the front of my shorts by the time we were downstairs, not a particularly good look What I didn’t anticipate, when I put all 4 in my pocket, was that our fresh antigen tests still had some of the liquid left in the little dropper area Which of course leaked through my pocket to the front of my shorts by the time we were downstairs, not a particularly good look The only hope for us here is that this is one last hard lockdown as a final measure to test and cut off the spread of the virus We have some hope that this new hard lockdown is only for 2 days, but then again, that’s exactly what they told us for the general lockdown 47 days ago The other big topic of conversation for the apartment community today was mosquitoes All of our normal maintenance has been suspended for a long time, including pest control for nature’s most obnoxious creation, which has resulted in a big increase in mosquitoes That of course led to a big discussion about whether Covid can be spread through mosquitoes and then, just moments ago (around midnight), we got this delivery from the building management group – they are occasionally efficient after all…
The results of our Shanghai Covid PCR tests were just published from the test this morning We are negative We are negative again We are negative again for 40+ consecutive negative tests during this lockdown where we are trapped in our homes, not allowed to leave…
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