A video from China recently shocked the virtual world. The video records a baby and toddler who tested positive for COVID-19 in Shanghai who were forced to quarantine without their parents' supervision.
In the video, you can see a picture of an inadequate isolation room facility. In one narrow bed three babies were left unattended, while a toddler crawled out of the room whimpering. Some health workers were overwhelmed so the situation in the isolation room seemed a little chaotic. The video, which originally circulated on Weibo, was re-uploaded by the journalist account @ChuYang_Journ on Twitter.
Reporting from the Insider page, the video was originally thought to be located in a Covid-19 isolation facility in the Jinshan district, Shanghai. However, it was revealed that the location of the incident was in the ward of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. Moments after the video went viral, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center spoke up and at that moment the original post on Weibo was deleted.
To The New York Times, a representative of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that the video did not depict the situation of a child who was a COVID-19 survivor who was quarantined, but was taken during the transfer of the pediatric ward to another building.
However, there is no objection to the rules for separating children and parents that are applied in Shanghai. They confirmed the implementation of strict rules that those infected with Covid-19 must be separated from those who were not infected given the increasingly widespread spread of the virus. According to the Forbes website, at least 13,000 people in Shanghai were infected with Covid-19 as of last Tuesday (5/4).
"This regulation is the key to virus prevention and control efforts," said Shanghai Municipal Health Commission staffer Wu Qianyu during a press conference, quoted from the Insider page. Wu Qianyu added that parents of survivors who also tested positive could live in the same place with their child.
On the other hand, a resident of Shanghai Esthe Zao expressed her concern about the policy that separated her from her little daughter. According to the Taipei Times, Zao took his 2.5-year-old son to the hospital with a high fever. Three days later, Zao pleaded not to be separated from his child after being confirmed positive for Covid-19 because his child was too young to be quarantined without parental assistance.
However, under pressure from the hospital, Zao was finally forced to agree to send his son to the Public Health Clinical Center in Jinshan District. Zao agreed because he was threatened that if he didn't want to send his son to the quarantine center first, he would be left in the hospital alone and he would be sent to Jinshan.
Unfortunately, since that day Zao has only received one short message stating that his son is fine without including photo or video evidence.
In a condition still trapped in the hospital without knowing the news of his son, Zao panicked even more and could only cry when he saw the video of the condition of the children in the quarantine center who were not being cared for properly. Although the public strongly criticized this separation policy, strict regulations were still enforced.
What do you think?