Ordinary Shanghai residents tell their COVID stories

It wouldn’t be an underestimation to say that COVID has literally torn through Shanghai since China pulled back from its strict COVID Zero policy last month. Some experts estimate that as many as ten million could have picked up COVID in the last few weeks alone, sending this massive city basically to a standstill. But many, including myself, have recovered from the initial stages of the virus and are getting back to work. My colleague Sophie, who you might remember if you watched my daily Shanghai lockdown live streams early last year, has been out on the streets interviewing ordinary people about their experiences. Sophie was one of many Shanghainese who tested positive for COVID during the city’s strict lockdown last year, and as per the rules at the time was sent to a central quarantine site for around nine days while she recovered. Obviously that’s a completely different story from what those of us who test positive for COVID are experiencing today, being given the seemingly simply luxury of recov