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 https://t.co/G7O4wlGFzx

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 https://t.co/izrsFsq2Ip

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 https://twitter.com/shanghaidaily/status/1522392182614904833

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 @epermarket! https://t.co/ty6BdK6gvY

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

I’ve heard from friends in other parts of the city that their areas are actually opening up, although most businesses and stores are still closed there

It’s always important to note that Shanghai is a big city and the circumstances vary significantly from one place to another

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… https://t.co/J9p0Lnou9v

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… https://t.co/sTB6ChsvW4