Parents’ nerves tested with ‘zero Covid’ policy

First modification: 11/08/2022 – 12:08

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde.

“1,2,3,4”, says the screen, “raise your arms and bend your knees, with cadence”. The sport, like other classes, is once again taught by computers for the little Pekingese this Tuesday, November 8. First there was an “urgent” message from teachers warning parents to “keep (your) phones open” in the late afternoon. It was then announced that the classrooms would be closed until the end of the week, before a new evaluation.

sanitary yo-yo

Although infection figures remain low compared to most countries – health authorities reported more than 5,000 new infections on Monday – China is recording its highest number of new Covid-19 cases in six months. The decisions, which are sometimes considered arbitrary, reveal the feverishness of the local committees for the prevention and control of the epidemic.

After the announcement of the closure of classes yesterday, several international schools, including the French Lycée, were finally informed of a change of decision shortly before midnight. These schools were able to open on Tuesday at noon and the others should reopen tomorrow in Beijing. Pressure from the foreign ministries had already put an end to the separation of families during the running of the bulls last spring in Shanghai.

This health yo-yo is increasing the stress level of families in international schools in Beijing. But the fatigue due to the “zero Covid” policy is even more visible among those who suffer daily from what is perceived as a “double standard” depending on the case and the goodwill of local or even micro-local authorities.

With the resumption of the autumn epidemic, PCR tests have become daily in certain neighborhoods, sometimes in entire cities, as is currently the case in Guangzhou and its region, marked by a rebound in the Omicron variant. On Monday afternoon in Beijing, the queues in front of the PCR kiosks extended several tens of meters, after the request of some companies to present a “green health code” from the day before to enter the offices.

anger on the web

Like those who experienced waiting on sidewalks outside stores during post-war rationing in Europe, some may say they experienced the period of PCR tests in China. These tests are free, except in some provinces and regions that, due to lack of funds, ask their citizens to pay for part of the tests, as Sixth Tones points out. The tests are also oral and therefore painless. However, if repeated throughout the year, these tests are likely to leave their mark within a generation.

All this, not to mention the anger that is emerging on social networks. In an unverified video widely shared on Twitter, a shirtless trucker screams in a parking lot. “I pissed on my truck and now, for wanting to make a deposit, the ‘white guards’ laid their hands on me. I do two tests a day. They prevent me from working and they want to charge me 75 yuan (just over ten euros a day) for the quarantine,” he says.

Tensions are also perceived on the part of the police officers, who are in charge of enforcing the sanitary order with protective suits. Also in this case numerous videos of abuses committed by “men in white” multiply on social networks. Seven policemen were arrested in Shandong, on the east coast, after beating up local residents. An investigation is underway.