Online rumor just barking up the wrong tree
A photo of a cordoned area which went viral on the Internet.
An online post that two trees in the city are cordoned off being in close contact with a person positive with COVID-19 has been confirmed as a rumor.
The statement was made in a WeChat group chat on Friday, and went viral shortly afterward.
It's true that an area was cordoned off, but for a quite different reason, authorities in Huangpu District told shobserver.com on Saturday.
The cordon was established between Liyuan Park and Yongyu Apartment, a residential complex, some days ago after a vegetable seller tested positive for COVID-19, according to the authorities.
The patient's car was given an disinfection, and a man in a protection suit was assigned to guard the area to prevent anyone entering.
By Saturday morning, the disinfection work had been completed, with the car removed and the guard post cancelled.
Shanghai Daily checked the place on Saturday morning and confirmed there was no guard.
A curious passer-by takes a photo.
Shobserver.com also reached out to the person who first told the story, a man surnamed Zhang.
Zhang said he was on his way back home from a shopping trip with his daughter on Thursday evening when he saw the cordon and asked the guard why the trees had been cordoned off.
He was told that the place was a close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 who was often there.
"Then I said to my daughter, well maybe the person often exercised here, but I didn't expect that my guess would become some kind of assertion," he told shobserver.com.
It was also rumored that the guard would be there for 14 days.
"I was being indiscreet when making the comments, and some of my surmises were irrational," Zhang said.
