Haidian Steps Up Controls: Stay Home Unless Necessary

This wave of Beijing's outbreak has lasted nearly a month, and new cases in recent days are actually higher than they were twenty days ago. Fengtai was placed under upgraded controls yesterday; today Haidian joined in. Together with Chaoyang, Tongzhou, Fangshan, and Shunyi from earlier, a large swathe of Beijing is now under upgraded controls.

Yet this afternoon our neighborhood activity center was as lively as ever, with children still running and chasing in the small garden without masks. Near the community nucleic-acid testing point, residents still jump rope and play ball without masks, right beside the line of people waiting to be tested. Chinese people are accustomed to keeping their heads down; seeing this, they dare be angry but not speak. And some people still refuse to get tested every day.

I left the compound to get tested and buy groceries. Along the way I saw plenty of unmasked people; the security guard at the gate, checking residents' health codes, was often unmasked himself. The notice required couriers and food delivery riders to stop entering the compound after noon on May 21, but this evening they were still coming and going freely. At the testing site today I saw several elderly people being swabbed without masks, and no one could do a thing about these grandpas and grandmas.

Beijing's leaders demand dynamic zero-COVID, but many residents are distracted, grassroots staff are stretched thin, and enforcement is deeply diluted. The press conference says one thing and reality another; the visible loopholes are countless, and few dare speak honestly. The government also hesitates to impose large-scale lockdowns for fear of severe economic damage.

So Beijing's zero-COVID work is hard going, less efficient than Shenzhen's or Wuhan's, with whack-a-mole across districts. If the status quo does not change and dynamic zero-COVID must continue, the stalemate will drag on, and the damage to Beijing's economy will be severe.

I therefore stay home unless necessary. Today I bought enough groceries to fill two refrigerators, enough for a week or two. Apart from nucleic-acid testing, collecting parcels, and taking out the trash, our family does not plan to leave home for the next two weeks. When we do go out, we choose off-peak hours, wear N95 masks and goggles, and avoid contact as much as possible.

We have lived like this for nearly a month now. Will it end in another month? I do not know. It depends on whether Beijing's execution strengthens and whether the control effect improves. But another month on, one-sixth of the year will have passed. I know that many Beijingers have been in the same state as our family since before May Day; dragging it on like this takes a large economic toll.

Beijing may step up controls further still, because so much of current policy depends on voluntary compliance, yet many people are actively finding ways not to comply. From today's news, even testing agencies are cutting corners. I noticed that in Wuhan and Hangzhou during outbreaks, residents needed a paper nucleic-acid pass to leave the compound, valid for only one exit within 24 hours. Perhaps Beijing will eventually have to take this step to contain the current wave and achieve dynamic zero-COVID.

But how long after zero-COVID will the next outbreak appear? Tianjin has already seen several waves since the end of last year. In future, major Chinese cities may all oscillate like Tianjin; if every oscillation requires this level of control, the economic cost is simply too high, and people cannot bear it. With each wave, residents' pandemic fatigue rises a notch, and some comply even less.

Perhaps we need to set a tolerance threshold, prepare psychologically for frequent small outbreaks, and find a balance—tolerating small outbreaks that do not cause medical collapse, and leaving the economy and people's livelihood a way to breathe.