Granny fights quarantine staff with broom
A 95-year-old woman fought off six hazmat-wearing healthcare workers with a broom to avoid being quarantined in Shanghai as China pursues its zero-Covid strategy.
Videos shared on social media showed the grandmother free herself from lockdown not once but three times, eventually returning home by scaling the wall of a quarantine centre. The woman was brought to police attention after locals reported her rambling around their neighbourhood despite having tested positive.
First, workers in hazmat suits arrived to take her away, but she fought them off with a broom, one video showed. After her first escape, officers confined her to her flat, sealing the doors using steel plates.
A later clip showed her breaking
through these using tools. Eventually, she was taken to a quarantine centre, but escaped from there, too.
“The old lady was taken away yesterday; she climbed the wall of the centre and got back the same evening,” a neighbour posted on social media.
“We all should learn from this lady. There is no need to wait for or depend on anyone, but gain our freedom with action,” one user commented.
She was later wheeled away in a yellow tricycle by officials.
She was not the only elderly person to fight back. In another video shared widely online a woman can be seen hitting a person in a hazmat suit with a stick as they move towards her with a testing swab.
Last week, Shanghai authorities announced they would “isolate whoever needs to be isolated” in a centralised quarantine effort to achieve its zero-Covid policy.
The city’s 25 million people were barred from going outdoors. Those trapped inside reported food and medicine shortages.
The government said: “Our goal is to achieve community zero-Covid as soon as possible. This is an important sign of winning this battle against the epidemic . . . so we can restore normal production and order to life.”
Residents have complained that isolation orders, which are issued en masse, have little consideration for individual circumstances. Others complained about conditions in quarantine.
Zhang Chen, 30, said her 4-year-old son and his grandmother were taken to quarantine. According to Chen the meals were meagre and the building dirty, with no showers.
“They are patients, not criminals. But here it’s like they’re criminals, and
being sent off to suffer.”