Shanghai Residents Slam China's 'Cruel' COVID Quarantines

Lu, 99, was a long-time resident at Shanghai's Donghai Elderly Care hospital, where she was getting round-the-clock care at the hospital. That was before COVID-19 struck China's biggest city last month, infecting multiple patients, doctors, and care workers at the 1,800-bed facility, Brenda Goh reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Shanghai has become a test case for the country's zero-COVID policy, where home quarantine is not an option.

Orderlies posted cries for help on social media, saying they were overwhelmed. Relatives told Reuters that there had been several deaths. Lu, whose relatives asked that she be identified only by her surname, had coronary heart disease and high blood pressure.

She caught COVID and, though she had no symptoms, was being transferred to an isolation facility, her family was told on March 25. She died seven days later, the cause of death listed as her underlying medical conditions, her granddaughter said.

Among the questions she has about Lu's final days was why elderly patients had to be quarantined separately, away from the care workers most familiar with their conditions. Her frustrations reflect those of many with China's no-tolerance COVID policy.

Everyone testing positive must quarantine in specialized isolation sites. Shanghai has become a test case for the country's strict policy. Home quarantine is not an option and, until public outrage prompted a change, Shanghai was separating COVID-positive children from their parents.

From March 1 to April 9, China's financial hub reported some 180,000 locally transmitted infections, 96% of which were asymptomatic. It reported no deaths for the period.

The United States has raised concerns about China's COVID approach, advising its citizens on Friday to reconsider travel to China "due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19 restrictions."

Beijing dismissed the US concerns as "groundless accusations." When Lu was being quarantined, the family asked, "Who is going to care for her? Will there be care workers, doctors?" her granddaughter said.

"My grandmother is not someone who can live independently. "If the care worker had COVID and no symptoms, why couldn't they stay together?" she said. "The chaos and tragedies happening in Shanghai this time really boil down to cruel policies."

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