NYU professor says his family is scavenging to find food in Shanghai

New York University-Shanghai professor Rodrigo Zeidan on Monday said his family is scavenging for food in the Chinese city amid a surge of coronavirus cases and a citywide lockdown.

Zeidan told Hill.TV that in Shanghai, a city of more than 25 million people, his family were becoming “hunter-gatherers,” forced to trade with neighbors and relentlessly search for healthier foods during the lockdown.

“It’s an interesting sociological experience, coming to a city where it’s not [in] our home country, and trying to survive in a very flexible way,” said Zeidan, who has conducted research around the world.

Shanghai entered a complete lockdown on April 5 following an uptick in confirmed coronavirus cases. The lockdowns are part of China’s “zero tolerance” strategy to combat COVID-19, but have prompted some protests among residents upset with being cooped up in their homes.

Zeidan said Shanghai residents are growing frustrated with the lockdown and were now “discussing the trade-offs” of the zero COVID-19 policy.

“People understand the goals of the government, but nobody wants to go to through that,” the professor said.