Longest 61 days

For people born in astrological sign Aquarius, many say, all kinds of limitations represent a great burden and discomfort for them. Aquarius people, as air is their elemental sign, strives for psychological and physical freedom even more than the rest. I don’t know much about the zodiac itself, but as an Aquarius, I can say, the starting statement holds true. Locking me in between four walls, and not be able to: feel the sun and the wind, breathing fresh air, seeing a moon, listen to the rustling of the leaves and birds singing, smell and sens the nature, feel the street vibes…, would have been a huge punishment to me, and that is exactly what has happened. It hit me, not just me, precisely it hit all 25 million people living in Shanghai. If anyone had asked me earlier, could I have been locked up for 50 days straight, limited to apartment only, I would have thought he has gone crazy. Human being gets used to everything and so did I. I survived something, I thought, I would never need to experience and have power to surpass it. How it all started?! You can guess twice. Yes, you are correct – of course, it has started again with the outbreak of this unfortunate and everlasting virus.

COVID-19 virus, after more than two years, is still very well present among us. Duo to a different strain, it is only changing its name every now and then. This one is currently called Omicron. Extremely contagious, but comparable to the common cold. However, due to more and more cases discovered from mid-March onwards, Shanghai, unlike the rest of the world, declared a “war” on an invisible enemy, implementing very strict measures in the metropolis. Their goal is to reach the “ZERO COVID-19” state. They are likely to reach this goal one day, I really wish they do and I am sure they will, but the question is for what economic and human cost. After all I have seen and experienced so far, I believe the results of measures this strict and long, can be devastating and can cause far more harm to people than the virus itself.

After the new virus outbreak in the mid of March – the biggest one, far bigger than the one in Wuhan, where it has all started – the main measure to combat it, was simple: to lock all residents in home units, in apartments and houses. After the measure was implemented, huge chaos reigned in the metropolis. The lockdown in our part of Shanghai, area called Puxi, has started on the night of 1st of April and lasted until 1st of June, altogether for 61 straight days. Of the 61 days, first 50 days were limited to apartment only, without exit and outer social interaction.

Only the last 10 days of lockdown – when our community finally reached 14 consecutive days without the COVID-19 cases – we were able to leave the apartments and go downstairs of our complex for a walk and some sun. On rare occasions, we were also able to go out on the street. At that time, everything was still closed on the streets, but the walk around the neighborhood, after almost two months, felt priceless.

In the other part of Shanghai, on the other side of the Huangpu River, in area called Pudong, lockdown has started even few days earlier than ours.

We were “robbed” of the beautiful spring, we had been waiting for all winter. Many have lost their jobs, and not just their jobs, but their dignity and hope. The 25 million city became a city of ghosts overnight and a place of sadness, despair. Some could not withstand these pressures. In prison (so I heard) at least you know, when the release date is, you have three meals a day and an exit to the prison yard, where you can get involved in sports or just sit in the sun. None of this was the case in the beginning stage of this lockdown. We did not know, when lockdown is over, we couldn’t go out, not even on the yard of the building, and food was very limited at the beginning of the lockdown – honestly, many were starving.

I believe that the intentions of the leaders were good, for the benefit of the people, but with such large population as in Shanghai, when you suddenly shut all the life down, of course, negative consequences are inevitable. Despite the small number of infections in the 25-million city of Shanghai, compared to the world, China stubbornly insist on zero tolerance for COVID-19. Before the lockdown, in the begging of the outbreak, about 10 cases were identified. The number, which (in China) already triggers all alarms. The number of infected people has been growing day by day – to 40 infected, then 120, soon reaching more than 1,000. These numbers are still immeasurably small comparing to other much smaller cities around the world. For example, Ljubljana, my home town, had more than 2,000 cases a day with only 300,000 inhabitants.

Authorities initially decided to impose a 4-day lockdown, which we learned about 4 days earlier. The euphoria, that arose just before the start of lockdown, was almost indescribable. People were literally fighting over food, store shelves were emptying. After two to three days of chaos, the supply somehow managed to catch up with the demand, so we got the basics and groceries. I prepared food and water for 6 days. When the lockdown officially began at midnight on April 1, testing of the entire Shanghai was conducted. The results the next day were shocking (for Shanghai). 20,000 cases were found. The promise of a 4-day lockdown was forgotten and rejected. The lockdown remains until an unknown date. Chaos reigned in the city. After a few days, most people, including me, started to run out of food supplies. There were many out there hungry. Me and my two flatmates, Amy and Prince, stuck together, put together everything we had, and helped each other out. Luckily, they both had plenty of food storage, so hunger really wasn’t a problem for us. We were lucky, no doubt about it. After a few difficult days, the delivery service began to return, but in a very limited edition. You had to be very persistent to get an order. People woke up in the early hours to have little chance of ordering (via the app) some vegetables and eggs. There was not much to choose from – cabbage, carrots and salad were on the main menu of Shanghai households. Prices have skyrocketed. It was a battle over who has the fastest fingers, as the food sold out in seconds. We (all Shanghai) got some small supplies from the government. We ate twice a day. Amy and Prince were cooking and I was all cleaning up. We ate noodles, rice and vegetables mostly.

I can’t imagine being without the sun for long, so every sunny day, between 2.30pm and 3.45pm, I chased the sun’s rays at the edge of the window. It was only during this time that the sun shone on my side.

I don’t want to complain or have anyone feel sorry for me. I am fully aware that what has befallen me cannot be compared to what other people around the world experience every day, in wars, in food and water scarcity areas, in slavery… The hardest thing for me was that at no point did I know how long it would all take. No one knew or wanted to tell us exactly. Some dates have been speculated about, but they have been constantly changing and moving away from us. It was all in the hands of the authorities and their decisions, which should be conditioned by the criteria of how many people are infected in your district or facility. So we could live from day to day, with an unknown ending.

But as a positive person, I would also like to end with a positive attitude. I always say there is a plus in every minus. There was nothing different about this event either. One of the pluses is that I lost some belly fat due to a limited food. Another plus is that due to a more static life, Bekar’s cyst on the knee, which was the result of physical overload, disappeared. Third, I had more time to write a blog. Fourth, I was able to focus more on learning Chinese. Fifth, and last, because of the hospital closure, I avoided surgery, the removal of barley from the eye-lid caused by the infection. The day before the planned surgery, I was ordered for a blood test. When I arrived in front of the hospital, everything was closed. By then it had already begun, a case of omicron infection was discovered at the hospital. So I had no choice but to go home. The operation was canceled, and a few days later I was in lockdown. In lockdown, however, to my surprise, the barley in eye-lid completely disappeared.

I have to admit that this was one of the hardest times of my life. The first two weeks, when I could only watch the awakening spring through the window, were difficult for me and the situation made me a little angry. The days went by and I got used to it. I didn’t miss being outside so much anymore, one day I didn’t even look out the window. I become numb. I got used to being inside. When the test of our building was negative for 14 days in a row, we were allowed to go outside, just to the parking lot that surrounds the building. After 50 days of captivity, this was a big move. When they announced this, I would have thought I would jump to freedom and feel the air, but I didn’t. People can really adapt to all kinds of circumstances. The next adaptation that awaits me, however, is to return – from the safe environment of the four walls – to real life and again face all the challenges that accompany it.

Finally, a few videos of many “COVID-19” adventures that can put a little smile on a person’s face despite a sad period: