After a two months’ long city-wide lockdown, the people of Shanghai were at last allowed on June 1 to freely roam the city. Businesses reopened, and people gathered at landmarks and attractions, eager to celebrate their newfound freedom. Fears of another lockdown, however, plague the city still — and so do fears of renewed restrictions, lost time with family and a further economic toll.
To get a window into how the people of the major city perceive the loosening of regulations, Sampan spoke with several acquaintances residing there.
“Obviously, it’s been nice to just be able to leave the compound and be able to go buy groceries,” Amelia Wang told the Sampan. “I was able to also go see my grandparents, which was really nice. But, it’s definitely not completely back to normal or what things were like before [the] lockdown.”
The relief that the Shanghainese people feel is not absolute. Rachel Zhang echoed that sentiment when asked how it felt to be out of lockdown.
“We’re out of lockdown, but are we really out of lockdown? … Everyone is in constant anxiety over another lockdown. I’m so serious, everyone is still stocked up because people are genuinely terrified.”
China has yet to abandon its Zero-Covid policy, with the goal of completely eliminating the virus within its borders. That means that any community spread could trigger another lockdown. U.S. officials recently said they expect the policy to linger through 2023.
“My own assumption is that we’ll see the continuation of ‘zero COVID’ probably into the beginning months of 2023. That’s what the Chinese government is signaling,” Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador said recently, according to a report by Reuters news service.
According to Wang, many dining services and “a lot of other public facilities are still closed, and there’s a lot of restrictions in that sense. A bunch of compounds have been closing down again because of cases.”
The city still has over “10,000 PCR test stands, a bit like newsstands, that have been constructed across the city for what the city official[s] call ‘normalized PCR testing,’” another acquaintance, who has asked to stay anonymous, told the Sampan. “And of course, you have to wear [a] mask outdoors…. There are many other restrictions but I don’t complain. I can finally get the hell out of a confined space!”
The lockdown has adversely affected business operations. Entrance to public transportation, malls, and offices requires a negative PCR test within the past 72 hours, creating barriers to workers’ commutes. Large manufacturers such as Tesla and Volkswagen suspended production, while others operated under “closed-loop” systems, which required that workers stay within factories to maintain production. The lockdown severely disrupted supply chains and sales. For the entire month of April, Shanghai reported zero car sales.
The government has made promises to remedy these difficulties for businesses. Plans include tax breaks, rent assistance, and construction support. It will also implement measures to promote consumer spending, like reducing sales taxes and subsidizing electric cars.
Investors do not seem highly optimistic about the city’s opening. The GDP estimate for 2022 is 3 percent, much lower than China’s target of 5.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite index increased by a cautious 0.6 percent on June 1.
The lockdown has caused an exodus of foreign expatriates from Shanghai. “60 percent of the people that I knew have left China, and another 30 percent are leaving soon. I am a part of that 30 percent,” Zhang said, “I thought I was going to stay here another year. But, I’m done. I’m totally done.”
So far, the city’s policies have fallen short of its Zero-Covid goals. The anonymous resident told Sampan: “In the past two weeks, there were incidents of resurging cases in a mall and some night club, which was not surprising at all. It’s a hyper-contagious virus and Shanghai is [a] megacity of 25 million residents. What do you expect?”
