18 Time April 25/May 2, 2022
WORLD
Parents in China
protest COVID-
child separation
BY REBECCA KANTHOR/SHANGHAI
Yoga insTrucTor JennY Tao was
home with her family in their one-
bedroom Shanghai apartment in
March when she got the phone call.
She and her husband had tested posi-
tive for COVID-19. They were taken
to a special hospital with their 3-year-
old son, who also tested positive.
However, their 10-year-old daughter,
who had received a negative result,
was sent on her own to a quarantine
medical center. When she tested posi-
tive the next day, she was transferred
to the hospital, but to a separate ward
from the rest of her family.
“My daughter was alone in the hos-
pital for five days,” says Tao. “We made
many phone calls. They kept saying
the kids have to go to the children’s
ward and there’s staff there to take
care of them. But in reality, there was
no one taking care of our daughter. All
the kids in the ward had to take care
of themselves. The situation in the
ward was a bit chaotic, and they barely
saw any nurses except at mealtimes.”
Finally, a doctor ap-
proved her daughter’s
transfer, reuniting the
family.
China’s dynamic
zero-COVID policy re-
quires those who test
positive, including in-
fants and children, to
isolate in quarantine
facilities or hospitals.
The practice has been
carried out in cit-
ies throughout China
since the beginning
of the pandemic. An Israeli business-
man, who asked that his name not be
used for fear of backlash from authori-
ties, tells TIME that two of his chil-
dren, ages 9 and 13, were isolated in
a Shanghai hospital for a month after
testing positive in March 2020. Health
workers in hazmat suits arrived at
their door in the middle of the night to
take them away. “I had to wake them
up and tell them, ‘Boys, you are posi-
tive and you have to go to the hospi-
tal,’ ” he says.
A fast-moving outbreak of the
Omicron COVID-19 variant in Shang-
hai, mainland China’s most popu-
lous and international city, is demon-
strating the drawbacks of the country’s
approach. The entire city of 25 million
people went into lockdown on April 1
after some 10,000 cases were de-
tected. Since then, public anger has
begun spilling over onto social media.
Public transport as
well as the use of pri-
vate vehicles has been
suspended, making
it difficult for people
with medical condi-
tions to access doc-
tors and hospitals.
Residents are unable
to leave their homes,
even to purchase es-
sential items, and de-
livery services have
been overwhelmed.
Many people have re-
ported trouble getting enough food to
feed their families.
But the child- separation policy has
been a particular source of anger. Par-
ents began openly calling for an end
to the policy after videos of unaccom-
panied infants crying in a Shanghai
COVID-19 hospital went viral online.
Foreign diplomats from more than 30nations sent letters to the government
to protest the practice. On April 12,
the U.S. ordered all non essential gov-
ernment staff to leave Shanghai.
Since the pandemic began, China’s
case numbers have been kept low
compared with those in the rest of
the world because of exacting COVID
restrictions. Mortality has also been
low: until March, China recorded
fewer than 5,000 deaths, the large ma-
jority from early 2020. But after more
than two years, patience may be wear-
ing thin.Officials have nOw made what
could be a rare concession—announc-
ing on April 6 that some children who
test positive for COVID-19 would not
be separated from their parents. Tao,
who was released from the hospital
with her family the same day the an-
nouncement was made, says it’s a pos-
itive development. “Children, espe-
cially young kids, need their parents
by their side to take care of them,”
she says.
But while speaking with TIME
after the government statement
was released, one parent heard that
his son’s classmate had tested posi-
tive. The family remains unclear on
whether their child will be sent to a
quarantine facility alone. For many
Chinese people, the fear of getting
COVID-19 is not about getting sick—
it’s about having to submit to China’s
strict pandemic measures. ‘Children,
especially
young kids,
need their
parents by their
side to take
care of them.’
JENNY TAO,
SHANGHAI RESIDENTTHE BRIEF NEWS
HECTOR RETAMAL—AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A health worker conducts
a COVID- 19 swab test
during a lockdown in
Shanghai on April 10