As the lock-down tensions escalate, the neighbor is cowardly-shy against the neighbor

SHANGHAI – Lockdown tensions have opened up divisions among Shanghai residents, from young to old, from locals to outsiders, and, above all, coward-negative against coward-positive people.

The 25 million people in Shanghai, most of whom live in apartment blocks, have forged new communal ties during the city’s coronavirus outbreak, exchanging and setting up group purchasing and food sharing stations.

But there is no end to the lockdowns that some people have gone through for four weeks, frustration is also growing behind the closed gates of the city’s tower block, often running between WeChat message groups.

In one, the conflict began when a woman was taken to a centralized quarantine – where she tested negative – her neighbor accused her of reporting her to authorities.

It is not uncommon for WeChat groups to share test results and declare positive cases, as authorities try to catch up with China’s largest outbreak since the virus was first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan.

A U.S. citizen was told that he would be sent to a quarantine center after a mixed test result returned positive last week, causing panic. Three others whose samples were in the batch were taken to the quarantine, but the test at his own home was negative.

“In the group chat, they were saying something like, ‘Oh, the positive people are still here, are the positive people still here?’,” He said, refusing to give his name.

Elderly residents, more at risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), are more likely to call for immediate expulsion of positive cases from their compound.

“Because of the media exaggeration about the disease, and because older people have weaker immune systems, they are more afraid of the virus than young people,” said one resident who saw it.

Another foreign resident, who only wanted to be identified as Alexi, was suspected by neighbors to be covid-positive when he failed to upload his test results to his health app.

The management of his building has tried to cut off his family’s food supply unless they share home test results with the rest of the residents – a claim that several Shanghai residents have said is widespread and violates privacy.

“They have no guidelines and CDC (Disease Control Center) services are overwhelmed,” he said. “They feel invested in the most important mission of their lives, as well as being able to play the role of doctor, policeman and judge.”

Stuck
Some people were denied entry to their homes and ordered to stay in hotels after being released from central quarantine in violation of state guidelines.

Another foreign resident who tested positive said he was held captive in his apartment instead of being sent to the central quarantine, because of the annoyance of his neighbors, who told him to leave, tried to exclude him from the group grocery order and even demanded a formal apology. .

One neighbor called him “foreign garbage” while another spread lies about his mental health, and the housing committee did nothing to help, he said.

“I saw their screenshots telling residents to keep calling me out,” he said, adding that he would leave as soon as possible. – Reuters