NPR.

It's Beijing residents line up this week for mass COVID testing.

They're looking nervously at cities like Shanghai that are in lockdown for their fifth week.

With not enough elderly people vaccinated, the Chinese government wants to just completely

stamp out COVID. And when it's trying to eliminate the Omicron variant, that means severe

lockdowns.

That kind of lockdown includes a lot of what we would call essential workers in the

US. And it's led to completely disrupted distribution of food and medicine. Some

people have even died from being unable to access medical services like dialysis. And

more generally across the city, there's real hunger. Supermarkets are closed down. Supplies

are low. And even food delivery has all but shut down.

That was mind blowing.

Kelly Wong is a 29 year old television producer in Shanghai.

I was just really, really surprised that in the 21st century, in a city, like an international

city like Shanghai, that's normally compared with Paris or New York. And that I actually

cannot find food.

So in response to this lack of food, Kelly has found herself as a volunteer logistician

overnight. In apartment compounds all across the city, there are everyday people like

Kelly who have taken matters into their own hands and who are creating new mini economies

to get groceries to cover. This is the indicator from planet money I'm Darien Woods.

And I'm Whalen Wong. Today on the show, the lockdown economy with Chinese characteristics,

so people in apartment compounds all over Shanghai are using group buying and old fashioned

...