Food situation from those people I know in Shanghai myself is quite good considering the situation (between "ok I have enough" and "I got way more than I need and share it with neighboors") but their mental health is slowly but steadily starting to get worse (which I definitely won't hold against them), with all of them at least making plans to leave the PRC (for a longer time at least, till they - PRC gov - get their act together..)

This is my biggest concern. The lock-downs won't stop it completely, but they will keep it somewhat in check. So, they may end up hovering around 50k cases per day across all of China, which then is almost completely in lockdown. That scenario would then have to remain pretty much unchanged forever...:(

What YuropFlyer said is pretty much spot on regarding food for those of us in the downtown districts. We all get enough through group buys, some random government veggie deliveries and scrounging around eleme and Meituan for open stores that deliver. Those people I know on the outskirts of the city have a tougher time of it but still manage to get enough to survive. This, of course, does not excuse the government for putting us in this situation.

Mental health is declining for lots of people manifesting itself in daytime drinking, people lashing out at their kids/partners and just general depression. It’s not a healthy way to run a country or an economy. That’s for sure.

Do people that can't WFH still get paid?

hmmmmmm
this sounds familiar

Just look at the history of China... the recent 40 years is just a blip. People should not have illusion that things have changed. History tends to repeat itself..... at least for China there is enough data (over thousands of years) to project the trend.

I'm stocked up with over a month of food reserves. Not too concerned if there's a lockdown.

Mentally - prepared as well. For those that are not introverts like me, lockdowns can be very very tough. Even for introverts like me, it's not easy.

Chatted with my American friends last night. They’re doing okay (meh was the response I got). They’re at least able to get and walk around their complex. They’ve got no issues getting food. They’ve been in lockdown since March 18th so it’s over a month for them.

Where else am I going to get synthetic rice and concrete walnuts?

TBH, I miss having China as a playground ... the random alpine slides and giant bumper car attractions, the furniture stores blaring slow techno music at 1am, and the vegetable dishes drowning in pork oil, what a treat.

But, it's got some spectacularly beautiful places, too, and the transportation infrastructure is a marvel. However, working there again doesn't sound worth it.

Just saw this:

https://piao.tips/04fa1ba001/

CAAC will extend 40% capacity control on all US carriers flights to China in May.

Not surprisingly, I just discovered that UA has blocked all ticket sales for UA 857 SFO-PVG in May.

Few hours ago you can buy a J ticket for $19,000. Now you can't even buy that.

Soon UA will start canceling people's tickets and kick them out.

It honestly might be worth it, if someone without status truly has to travel, to do a $3,000 PQP mileage run to get silver status and be higher up on the list to stay on the flight.

$3,000 to China?

AA/DL/UA cheapest one-way coach ticket to China costs $6,600+

On most days even that is not available as flights are simply full with capacity restriction.

I believe 'boat stuck' is referring to $3000 spend (PQP) on United Airlines PRIOR TO A CHINA TRIP to get to SILVER Mileage Plus status, and thusly be in a MUCH better position [than many others on the flight] to NOT be kicked when the subsequent CHINA flight reservations get chopped from ~70% down to ~40%.
It's an additional, $3000 pre-spend with United in order to get a better chance of remaining on the United flight to China.

Actually someone reported that 1K on Q fare and a Platinum on a U fare got kicked out of UA 857.

My friend bought $6,600 ticket and was safe. He has no status.

I think UA values a non-status pax bought $6,600 B fare higher than an 1K on $3,000 Q fare.....

Aye, I think you might be right ----> I wasn't endorsing the idea, only trying to explain its foundation! :cool: