Talking About Covid

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How the epidemic has reshaped life in the last two years

疫情必备用语指南

Nearly two-and-a-half years since Covid-19 was detected at a seafood market in Wuhan， the pandemic has touched nearly every aspect of life worldwide—changing people’s attitudes toward food safety， public health， travel， and socializing， as well as popularizing phrases like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve.”

In China， which has maintained a “zero-Covid” policy since 2020， stringent lockdown measures and widespread testing of affected neighborhoods have also made people utterly at home with previously obscure terms like 清零 （qīnglíng， zero-Covid）， 消杀 （xiāoshā， disinfection）， and 核酸 （hésuān）， short for 核酸检测 （hésuān jiǎncè， nucleic acid test）. When Beijing saw a cluster outbreak in the summer of 2020， it was joked that “您核酸了吗 （Nín hésuān le ma， Have you taken a nucleic acid test）？” had replaced “吃了嗎 （Chī le ma， Have you eaten）？” as a standard greeting among elderly residents of the capital.

At the time of publication， Shanghai is coming out of over two months of a battle against an outbreak of the highly contagious omicron variant， which has led to China’s strictest lockdown measures to date. With an estimated 400 million people experiencing restrictions due to pandemic control in Shanghai and other parts of China， the pandemic has reshaped how they speak， act， and even eat.

Stockpiling supplies

In the early days of Shanghai’s city-wide lockdown， the shutdown of businesses and delivery channels inside and outside the city made food and other basic necessities into scarce commodities for those who did not stock up beforehand. Across the city， tech-savvy residents got used to setting their alarm at odd hours—say， 5：45 a.m.—to get ready to “snatch” fresh produce from online delivery platforms before they run out.

It is a test of both swiftness and perseverance. Cycling through up to 12 apps on their phone， the Shanghai resident might repeatedly smash the “checkout” button， only to have supplies run out or the app crash due to too many people attempting order simultaneously. Those who missed out might exclaim：

Vegetables are even harder to buy than a ticket to a Jay Chou concert.

Qiǎngcài bǐ qiǎng Zhōu Jiélún yǎnchànghuì ménpiào hái xūyào yònglì.

抢菜比抢周杰伦演唱会门票还需要用力。（剩余6625字）