A spate of deaths of geriatric patients at a Shanghai hospital underscores the dangerous consequences of China’s dogged zero-COVID-19 strategy amid a growing outbreak in the city of 26 million.
Several patients have died at Shanghai Donghai Geriatric Hospital, relatives of the patients told The Associated Press. They say their loved ones were not cared for properly after caregivers who came into contact with the virus were removed and quarantined under strict pandemic regulations, leaving the hospital without staff. .
Relatives have taken to social media for help and answers, demanding to see footage from the facility’s cameras after the hospital gave them little or no information.
The hospital conditions and deaths are a major blow to China’s strategy of adhering to the zero-COVID policy to deal with the outbreak in Shanghai, where most infected people have no symptoms. With a focus on forcing positive cases and their close contacts to stay in facilities designated for mass quarantine, the costs of maintaining a zero COVID policy may be outweighing the risks of getting sick.
Shen Peiming, 71, was one of the deceased. She died in hospital on Sunday morning with no relatives by her side. A family member said that they have been calling the hospital to find out the circumstances of Shen’s death, but have not received a clear answer. “How many times have there been lockdowns since 2020? Do you not have experience to handle this yet?” said the relative.
All they know is that their doctor and nursing staff were not there to care for Shen, who was partially paralyzed due to a stroke. The last nursing assistant caring for her was quarantined for having close contact with a positive case, said her relative, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. An employee they did not know called to inform them that she had passed away. The hospital later said that she died due to a respiratory infection.
The hospital had an outbreak of COVID-19, nurses told the family, but Shen had tested negative until last week for a diagnostic test.
Shanghai authorities have not reported any deaths from this outbreak, but there have been questions about the reliability of the figures. A municipal medical official, who requested anonymity to comment due to the sensitivity of the matter, said that the criteria for confirming cases and deaths are very strict and susceptible to political interference.
It is unknown how many patients have died in the hospital and if any have died of COVID-19. The families say they have spoken with others whose relatives have also died. An article by Chinese news outlet Caixin describing the deaths and infections was removed shortly after publication, apparently targeted by censorship. Phone calls to the main office of Donghai Geriatric Hospital went unanswered. The Shanghai government did not respond to a request for comment.
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Wu reported from Taipei. Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing and researcher Chen Si in Shanghai contributed to this report.
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