China's massive COVID-19 lockdowns reportedly trapped a woman at her blind date's house


China currently has more than 20 million of its citizens in strict lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but one woman in particular earned special sympathy for being trapped by quarantine orders in the house of a blind date. The woman, identified as Yang, disclosed on Chinese social media that she had traveled to Zhengzhou from her home in Guangzhou, where because "I am getting older, my family introduced me to more than 10 blind dates," NBC News reports.
It was on blind date No. 5 that Chinese officials locked down Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province. Wang agreed to meet at the blind date's house last Friday so he could "show off his cooking," Yang told Shanghai's The Paper on Monday. The unnamed date barely spoke but "everything else is great," she added. He "cooks, cleans up, works." Wang later said she had removed some of her social media clips because their popularity had affected her date's life. "It is unclear whether Wang is still stuck at the apartment," NBC News reports. COVID-19 cases are still rising Henan.
The caprice of China's uncompromising "COVID zero" policy may make for the occasional romantic comedy plot — or horror movie, depending — but it's no joke for the people confined to home with little warning. It's also very serious business for President Xi Jinping, Politico's Phelim Kine explained Thursday night.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Xi "has explicitly branded China's zero COVID strategy as a winning formula that has saved lives, preserved the economy, and made Beijing a safe host for the Winter Games" even as "the rest of the world burned," Kine wrote. "But with Omicron clearly challenging that strategy, both the Chinese [government] and Xi Jinping face a critical credibility loss both domestically and internationally."
Health experts and economists say China's zero COVID strategy "is fundamentally unsustainable," because it "inflicts a cost that is as bad or worse than the 'cure,'" economically and socially, Kine explains. Other countries are starting to learn to live with the virus, but "China can't do that as readily because it would be an implicit declaration of defeat and failure of their much-hyped strategy," and because "relaxing the current COVID control settings would inevitably result in massive numbers of infections and deaths among an under-vaccinated population."
Read more about Xi's dilemma, and China's, at Politico.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
July 12 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include generational ennui, tariffs on Canada, and a conspiracy rabbit hole
-
5 unusually elusive cartoons about the Epstein files
Cartoons Artists take on Pam Bondi's vanishing desk, the Mar-a-Lago bathrooms, and more
-
Lemon and courgette carbonara recipe
The Week Recommends Zingy and fresh, this pasta is a summer treat
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year high
Speed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kids
Speed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
China's soaring dementia rates
Under The Radar Government launches action plan after cases in China increase 50% faster than global average
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts