鑽石舞台

BySophie Steiner

The last few weeks have seen Shanghai experience an unprecedented number of positive cases, leading to thousands of people inone of the biggest cities in the worldbeing displaced and separated from their lives and family.

In thisMyStoryinterviewseries, we explore the first-hand and personal experiences of those among us that have been directly affected by they themselves or those around them testing positive for COVID-19.

This is an interview with a female, 36, who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 1. After missing an unexpected, middle-of-the-night call to be picked up on April 3 – that marked her as 'non-compliant,' inducing further anxiety – she was finally taken to a Jing'an quarantine facility on Pingxingguan Lu on April 6 and able to room with her boyfriend and three others. Here is her story.

How were you notified that you tested positive?In the lead up to the original April 1 Puxi four-day lockdown, I had cold symptoms for three days but thought nothing of it until a friend mentioned she』d tested positive. I had an antigen self-test that I did at home, and it showed two hard red lines immediately.

I notified my neighborhood committee as we were due for mass testing the next day, which I knew I shouldn’t attend if I was indeed positive for COVID, as my lane has many elderly neighbors.

The CDC sent someone to perform a PCR in my doorway at 9pm that night [March 31], and the result was announced the next afternoon, April 1 – officially positive.

What was going through your head when you found out?My first and only thought was for the safety of my cats, especially with Puxi going into lockdown the next day, and already some reports of suboptimal outcomes for Pudong pet owners taken to centralized quarantine.

Immediately after the test, I sent my cats by Pet Taxi to a cat sitter; Spare Leash were an incredible support!

Having moved the cats, I thought I might feel less stressed, but then I started to wonder (worry!) how long it would be until they picked me up. I only knew of one friend at that time taken to centralized quarantine. Her wait had been four days of false starts and miscommunications.

Could me and 『Mr. Equanimity』 – my thankfully also positive boyfriend – expect the same?

Check-in process. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Describe the timeline and experience of how you were picked up and brought to centralized quarantine.After the positive result announcement on April 1, there were several phone calls and messages; some from CDC doctors, some from my neighborhood committee and some from my landlord.

At times there seemed to be glimmers of hope when asked if my apartment had a separate bathroom.

Eventually, though, we were firmly told we would have to go to centralized quarantine and that we would be informed soon about which day we would be taken.

However, Sunday night [April 3], they called at 1am a couple of times and again at 3am... as we discovered in the morning after waking up. We had slept through when they wanted to take us. Oops!

This resulted in our seeming 『non-compliant』 – even though it had been by accident that we missed their middle-of-the-night calls– and my employer contacted me to pass along the CDC’s message that I had a choice now between complying and going to quarantine or facing detention center and visa revocation.

This made the remaining three days of waiting (six in total) extremely anxiety inducing, even at times for Mr. Equanimity. I was scared to use the bathroom, cook a meal or sleep in case I missed the moment they called again!

Despite asking the neighborhood committee every day, they could give us no indication of when we would go.

When we did finally get the call at midnight on Wednesday, April 6, it took them around two hours to actually arrive and pick us up, after originally telling us they would pick us up in half an hour.

We were ready, packed and apparently my face lit up like a Christmas tree the moment I received the call that at least meant the anxious wait was over.

What you receive at check-in. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Did you have any COVID symptoms?I had what I thought was a cold, starting with a mild sore throat and fever Tuesday night [March 29], and then just snotty nose and some aches and tiredness for the next three days.

It never even occurred to me at that time of very few Puxi cases that it could be COVID until my friend told me she』d tested positive.

By the time I was taken to a quarantine center a week later, I was entirely healed.

Bathroom. Image courtesy of interviewee.

What are the living conditions like?As more friends and acquaintances were taken to 『COVID camps,』 we were able to compare our experience and discover we were very fortunate.

First, my boyfriend and I were able to stay together in the same room, along with three other people. Most of our floor is women only, but luckily we weren't split up– I can scream 「Yi qi!」 like no one’s business.

We were taken to what seems to be a makeshift quarantine center, possibly converted from student dorms. We are in a five-bed dorm room with a shared shower and western toilet. The food comes regularly and is adequate.

Mattress thickness in centralized quarantine. Image courtesy of interviewee.

The beds are metal frames covered by a plywood board with a mattress the thickness of… well see the photo above!

The quilt is warm though, and when the heat arrived on April 11, we found ourselves having the opposite problem reported by those who』d gone to camp before us; rather than freezing, we were sweltering in sticky heat due to screwed shut and sealed windows.

Between the rock-hard bed and the heat, it’s difficult to sleep, not to mention the noise of my roommates.

Common room in centralized quarantine. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Are you able to move around much or confined mainly to your bed?We were told we were confined to the five-bed dorm. Especially in the first few days, nurses would scream at us if we even put one foot over the threshold during daily temperature checks.

Reflecting on criminal jails in my own culture, I realized they always allowed for yard time (exercise) and fresh air (vitamin D); no doubt for the very necessary good effects on mental health.

Common room in centralized quarantine. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Whilst fresh air was never going to be available, eventually we started pushing our limits – walking in an empty 「common space」 down the hall offering a polite 「Ting bu dong」 any time a nurse yelled at us.

In a couple of days, most of the poor dabai nurses, sweating and red-faced under their suits, started to ignore this transgression. Maybe because it wasn’t worth fighting over such an unclear and idiosyncratic policy detail.

Gradually, we noticed the common room window rails starting to fill with drying clothes; by Day 9, it was genuinely a common area used by most of the residents of the 12 rooms on our floor.

Quarantine room. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Have you ever felt unsafe during your experience?The lack of fresh air, other than being another contributor to discomfort, has also made me feel unsafe.

I’m not overly worried about possible reinfection from other patients; I don’t believe it’s very likely. However, the bleach they spray the halls with three times a day is a concern.

A confirmed concern when a resident of our room finally was released and they sent us out for 10 minutes after spraying her bed area with the bleach; I stayed out an hour but still suffered itchy red eyes the rest of that day and the next.

A friend down the hall developed sneezing and a cough. The bleach has no way of being aired out.

We also ran out of the initially provided bottled water and were repeatedly ignored when asking for more. It seemed the whole facility was suffering a shortage, and we had to boil tap water for three days.

When bottled water finally arrived, a roommate was quick to scoop the whole package under his bed and share only three bottles with the rest of us.

He then proceeded to boil and audibly drink the rest of the water throughout the entire night with what seemed to be returned COVID symptoms, but more likely an allergic reaction to the bleach, given the proximity of his bed to the one sprayed down in our dorm that day.

Overall, what are your thoughts on the current situation?I am a strong believer that the current policy is a greater danger to the populace than now learning to just live with COVID.

A common catchphrase heard is that the cure is worse than the disease. This is true for me – the cold symptoms were entirely healed in seven days at home, but I am still feeling the mental and physical effects of the six days of anxious waiting and 10-day stay in central isolation.

I feel it is also even more true of the very changed Shanghai I’m about to return to 16 days after my diagnosis on April 1.

With my mental health taking a battering during the wait and subsequent centralized stay (not to mention the backaches from the bed), I had to find a coping strategy in uncomfortable and unfamiliar circumstances.

Quarantine meal. Image courtesy of interviewee.

Quickly, though, my focus began to change to where suddenly an even graver situation had sprung up whilst I was 「doing my time.」

Back home in their apartments, friends were suddenly stuck with nothing but rice or porridge for several days at a time. People reported spending their whole day seeking food through failing group buys and relentlessly updating building chats.

Whilst glad for my freedom, returning home has me wondering which situation is safest right now.

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