April 7, 2022
Day L7: Man Punished for Jogging
There are so many stories I could share about this lockdown that is growing worse day by day, but I need to pick and choose. This jogging story stands out for several reasons. One, most of us could relate to the need for outdoor exercise in a pandemic. Indeed it is one of the more socially distant activities. Two, this is a nice break out of the compound as it were, and to focus on something else besides what happens within confines. Here goes the story, directly copied and pasted from the news:
Jogger, 60, fined for breaking lockdown rules
A man living in Putuo District [northwest of the city] was fined [$31] for breaking lockdown rules, Shanghai police said on Wednesday. The man, who is over 60, jogged 10 kilometers on empty city streets despite the citywide lockdown, police said. Taopu Police Station received a report from the public last Saturday morning about the jogging man. The man allegedly also posted about it in a Wechat group with fellow joggers. Police soon identified the man surnamed Li who has been staying in a company on Liuhua Road [nearby] during the lockdown. Li admitted that he went jogging at 5:50am that morning although he was aware of the lockdown rules. He told police he's a regular jogger. He was fined by breaking the administrative punishment law by failing to comply with government decisions in an emergency situation.
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Judging by his muscular appearance and his vital stats, this guy is in superb health for his age. For someone over 60 years old to crack a sustained pace under 6 minutes per kilometer, that is exceptionally good. I'm not a regular long-distance runner but the times I try half-marathons it's well over 2 hours. At his pace he could easily do that.
Second, he never came into contact with anybody and his route showed that he simply ran up and down the street multiple times. Somebody with a case of sour grapes reported him and this was picked up on CCTV cameras. Ridiculous.
One more thing is that the news calls this lockdown an 'emergency decree'. Obviously we see how the authorities respond to such decrees. But let me ask, what exactly is the emergency here? A virus that is more or less the same as a flu, surely not lethal, maybe even less potent.
This is not the Wuhan lockdown and nobody is buying into this so-called emergency. The authorities have tarnished whatever reputation and trust they had, and nobody will ever take them seriously again. If there ever was a real emergency, God help us all.
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As for today, another round of mass covid testing. This time they came banging on our doors and yelling "COVID TEST!" Our home had been invaded. The entire compound had more or less transformed into a mlitary camp.
During my not-so-stealth garbage run last night I happened to seethe building next to ours. Right beside where I normally park my bicycle, that block was now all covered in police tape. There had been a new positive case there, Unit 34. This detail will become important later. That explains the extra two tests in a row for us. We won't be getting out of here for ages now.
The only good thing in this I suppose is we live in an older compound so the 'housing blocks' are divided into smaller sections. This means we're not subject to sealing people inside rooms as would happen in the newer compounds. Or so we think. Who even knows.
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