Shanghai anti-epidemic team broke down the door to take the old woman to quarantine

Zhi Ye, a former journalist born and raised in Shanghai, shared a series of posts on the Weibo social network saying that around 2 a.m. on April 19, a group of anti-epidemic workers banged on the door of the apartment where her grandmother and uncle lived. Zhi lives in an apartment complex in Shanghai. When no one answered, they broke down the door and barged in.

This group of people want to take the 92-year-old woman and her 74-year-old son to the isolation center because both have tested positive for nCoV. When the old woman refused, because the mother and daughter had now tested negative, she was said to be dragged out of bed by the anti-epidemic team and dragged on the floor. Worried about his mother’s health, the son helped her get dressed and agreed to follow the anti-epidemic staff.

In the posts, Zhi said her grandmother and uncle tested positive at home on April 13. They immediately informed the neighborhood authorities and medical staff were sent to do PCR tests on them the next day. Both had a mild cough and no fever. On April 16, they did a quick test and the result was negative.

On the afternoon of April 18, the neighborhood government said they would be transferred to a temporary isolation facility. Zhi is worried because her grandmother has high blood pressure and heart disease, while her uncle is taking daily medication after recent prostate surgery. She posted on social media calling for help so that her grandmother and uncle would not have to move to an isolation place.

Zhi Ye’s post prompted many Chinese social media users to criticize the “cold” anti-epidemic approach of the Shanghai authorities.

In the face of a wave of public anger, the local government on the evening of April 19 issued a statement confirming that the police and the neighborhood committee staff had broken the apartment lock for “fear of something bad” when coming here to bring the apartment. Two residents entered the isolation ward in the middle of the night.

The government statement said that the two people in the apartment “after consulting with the police” agreed to “voluntarily descend the stairs” to board a car to the isolation ward.

Zhi has not yet commented on the statement.

A statement from the local government said that medical staff at the isolation center had carried out basic medical checks on Zhi’s grandmother and uncle, and “ensure their health condition remains normal”. They acknowledged the shortage of beds at the quarantine and said medical staff would be more concerned about elderly patients with underlying medical conditions.

45 hours after being taken to the isolation ward, Zhi’s grandmother and uncle were sent home after testing negative three times, Zhi announced on WeChat.

Shanghai has moved many people to concentrated isolation wards in recent days, as authorities step up efforts to control community infection. On social media, many people call for help when their parents and grandparents are brought into isolation, sometimes lacking necessary medicine or equipment.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, the highest-ranking official in charge of the Covid-19 response in China, earlier this week said that anyone who tested positive and who had close contact was taken to the local area. isolation point, “no exceptions and delays”. She said that the outbreak in Shanghai may soon end and the infection will only be detected in the isolation ward.

Shanghai authorities are under great pressure to control the Covid-19 outbreak that has infected more than 430,000 people, despite the strict blockade order. The latest efforts to end community transmission have raised concerns that the elderly are not receiving appropriate care in isolation facilities, due to overcrowding of medical staff.

“For elderly people aged 80-90, the risk of cross-infection and death is much higher in isolation centers than in self-isolation at home,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior global health expert. request of the Council on Foreign Relations based in Washington, USA, said.

Huyen Le (According to CNN)