What a difference a day makes. After scenes of panic buying and worries about an upcoming lockdown dominated discussions among Chengdu-based social media users on Thursday, many expressed relief on Friday to find some calm after the storm and plenty of groceries in the city’s supermarkets.
Following a spike in COVID-19 cases, Chengdu authorities announced on Thursday that the city would implement a semi-lockdown starting at 6pm, meaning people would have to stay at home and participate in the mass testing campaign until September 4th.
Different from a strict lockdown, one member of each household is allowed to leave the home one time per day for a two-hour timeframe to do groceries and buy essential items.
This was initially also the case in Xi’an during its lockdown in late 2021/early 2022, but the lockdown later became more strict after which many residents struggled with food shortages.
Although Chengdu authorities told people not to ‘stock up blindly,’ many people still rushed to the markets, and some bought piles of meat and carts full of vegetables.
Some scenes from Chengdu before city-wide lockdown. pic.twitter.com/w6pCgK7gPf
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) September 1, 2022
Thursday’s scenes of overcrowded shopping streets and chaos at supermarkets reminded of previous panic buying moments in China’s Covid era, including those in Shanghai and Tianjin.
But after people left their homes on Friday within the permitted two-hour time frame, many were relieved to find that the markets were open with well-stocked shelves and that deliveries were not canceled.
Exit card: 1 person per household, once day for maximum of 2 hours.
“Last night I was so super nervous and rushed to stock up on food, only to find today – after I got a card to exit the gates – that there was so much fresh produce at the Qiandama grocery store and Manpeng food market! Same at Hema supermarket! Chengdu people really don’t need to worry about going hungry during the lockdown, just worry about how to eat all that tasty food,” Weibo user @kkyoon_lim wrote.
Weibo user points out that supermarkets are fully stocked and that the panic buying was unneccessary.
“I was the one who went out today for two hours of fresh air on behalf of my family,” another Chengdu-based netizen wrote: “There were not a lot of people out and the drug stores and supermarkets were open. Express delivery couriers also came to deliver. I was afraid it wouldn’t be the case. The grocery prices were also regular. So I’m happy I didn’t join the panic buying yesterday.”
Another Chengdu resident wrote: “Went out today to get groceries. There were very few people outside and it was so quiet. To be honest, I thought it was quite nice actually.”
Despite some relief, frustrations are also still building, especially regarding the process of mass testing. Some nucleic acid testing points saw the systems go down on Thursday and not everything seemed to be going smooth on Friday either. For a second day in a row, the hashtag “Chengdu Nucleic Acid System Down” (#成都核酸系统崩了#) went trending on Weibo.
“Fixed-point nucleic acid testing really is a joke,” one angry commenter wrote: “There are multiple testing point across town and every single one is more crowded than a supermarket during panic buying. After lining up for a couple hours, they tell us the system is down and we spent another few hours wasted.”
“I’ve been waiting for three hours already, I’m going crazy, what kind of system is this?” another Chengdu-based social media user complained.
“Chengdu’s Covid testing system is just ridiculous, it goes down every day, and the more it breaks down, the longer we are exposed to a crowded environment where we could catch the virus,” one poster wrote.
Despite the struggles, there were also people who enjoyed the quiet night scenes in the city of 21 million.
Photo by @幸福的JioJio加油.
On Weibo, netizens wished each other a good night after this first full day of semi-lockdown. One person wrote: “Chengdu, we’re doing quite well, good night everyone!”
By Manya Koetse
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