SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) –The lockdown in Shanghai, China made the trip for Chinese students who plan to go back to their hometowns harder.
According to the report from the National Health Commission, the Chinese mainland confirmed 2,830 locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases, and a total of 2,634 were from Shanghai.
Iris Yang, a Chinese student at Syracuse University, scheduled to go back to China on May 11, and the destination of her flight is Shanghai. She said she is lucky that her flight hasn’t been canceled like many of her friends, but she still needs to plan ahead for this trip.
“Well, from what I heard, we can still only be quarantined for 14 days in Shanghai, then we can go to like other places like my hometown, “ Yang said. “But, I’m actually not sure because I’ve heard some other people stuck in there for like more than 14 days, and what I know the airport thing in Shanghai are all closed, so I might need to do more research,” Yang said.
Yang hasn’t came back to China for nearly two years, she has prepared for this flight since last November. She said this is also to reduce the economic burden for her families, as flight tickets for going back to China are very expensive right now.
“Now I just booked all the COVID testing, like prepared to pick up my luggage, and it’s more, I guess, mentally anxious and tried of this, rather than like, physically I need to do a lot of stuff,” she said.
As for local residents in Shanghai, different people are experiencing different difficulties.
Cynthia Qiu is a junior from Tongji University in Shanghai. During the time that she was quarantined in the school, she said school officials thought students should try to avoid accessing the public area including restrooms where they will probably increase the risk of getting COVID-19.
“I can’t bear not taking shower, and sometimes girls have period, they don’t have the basic things,” Qiu said.
She also mentioned the food school offered cannot provide enough nutrition for her.
“And I think the most depressed thing is that, I just have an orange for maybe monthly. Since March to now, I just have one orange, and there is no fruit, oh my god,” she said.
Ziyi Huang is a teacher who has experienced lockdown at Shanghai. She said the current situation is better than the beginning of April. She was anxious at first, but as a community volunteer who helped the residents do COVID-19 testing and distribute food to the public, she felt better.
One of biggest part of quarantined people’s lives is to rush for the daily supplies online. She said people cannot always get what they want, but the good thing is they have WeChat groups that people could exchange food they don’t need, and this is a good opportunity for her to get to know the people around her.
“Also, this pandemic makes us more familiar with our neighbors for the first time. We didn’t know each other before, including when we went to work, there was no communication between us,” Huang said. “This is a different experience, but I still hoped there is no pandemic. It affects my daily life and my work a lot, although it is not a devastating strike for me.”
As a volunteer, Huang also said buying medicine is a big problem for quarantined people, especially for elderly people with chronic diseases who need to go to specific hospitals frequently, so it is really important that people don’t get sick at present.
