Diplomats: DON'T Separate Children from Parents
12 Minutes Read
• Recently there has been lots of noise on social media about the separation of families - kids and parents - in mandatory quarantines. There's been a (very understandable) pushback from the community who view the prospect, in general, of getting separated from their kids as more damaging than, say, a home quarantine situation with the whole family, especially in cases that are mild or asymptomatic.
• French and British envoys raise concerns about practice in Shanghai as city tries to stop spread of coronavirus. Lack of privacy and sanitation at mobile hospitals also worrying, British letter says.
A father holds his daughter behind barriers that separate a neighborhood in lockdown. AFP via Getty Images
Law: "Only if both parent & child test positive, they can be together"
According to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, infected people should be separated from those who not infected, said Wu Qianyu, a senior inspector of the municipal health commission, at a news conference on Monday.
Infected children under the age of 7 whose parents are not infected will receive treatment in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center away from their parents, Wu said. Infected children older than 7 will undergo treatment in other designated quarantine hospitals equipped with pediatrician teams, Wu added. If parents also test positive, then they would be allowed to stay with their children to receive medical observance and treatment, she said.
Shanghai: Official response
On April 2nd, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau has made the policy clear: A caregiver designated by either parents or subdistrict must look after children, if their parents test positive for COVID-19 or are under lockdown. If no caregiver is found, the district, subdistrict or town must designate a temporary guardian with the authorization of the parents.
Today it was announced that parents can accompany their children to quarantine and for treatment at designated sites if both the parent and child test positive of COVID-19, according to the Shanghai Health Commission. Parents who test positive can stay with their infected kids in children's sections at local designated hospitals and quarantine sites, Wu Qianyu, an official with the health commission, said on Monday.
If only the child tests positive and is younger than 7 years old, he or she must be treated without parents at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, the city's key designated hospital for COVID-19 infections, Wu said at the daily COVID-19 press briefing. Most older children and young kids with their parents will be treated at local central quarantine sites by professional pediatric medical teams, she said.
Caregivers designated by parents or the pertinent subdistrict will look after children whose parents test positive for COVID-19, said Zeng Qun, deputy director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. "The top priority is to guarantee the physical and mental well-being of the children," Zeng said. "Children must be protected and taken care of."
Consulates/ Embassies response
Western diplomats have expressed concern about separating children from their parents as part of Covid-19 curbs in Shanghai as the government tries to stamp out the spread of the virus. The city has been separating Covid-positive children from their parents, citing epidemic prevention requirements, which has prompted a widespread public outcry. Diplomats from more than 30 countries have written to the Chinese foreign ministry urging authorities not to take such a step. Currently, asymptomatic cases are sent to centralised quarantine centres, some of which have been described as unsanitary and overcrowded.
“We request that under no circumstances should parents and children be separated,” the French consulate in Shanghai said in a letter addressed to the foreign affairs office in the city on Thursday. In a separate letter to the Chinese foreign ministry dated the same day, the British embassy in Beijing said it was concerned by “recent instances when local authorities have sought to separate minors who tested positive for Covid-19 from their parents” and requested assurances that this would not happen to diplomatic staff.
The French consulate and British embassy both said they were writing the letters on behalf of European Union states as well as other countries including Norway, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. They said they had heard about difficulties caused by Shanghai’s lockdown, which the city started carrying out in two stages starting March 28.
French Consulate
Several foreign consulates have warned their citizens in Shanghai that family separations could happen as Chinese authorities executed COVID curbs. The French consulate has issued a statement on their website addressing topic, stating that they've joined in agreement with the other European consulates, and have taken the issue up with the Foreign Affairs Office. From the consulate website:
"The Consul General of France spoke today with the Director of the Foreign Affairs Office in Shanghai and highlighted the concerns of foreign communities and the practical difficulties they encounter in the context of the confinement. In particular, he recalled our expectations, shared by all European consulates, relating to the accommodation conditions for people who tested positive and insisted on the principle of non-separation of families in all cases. He also stressed the importance of ensuring effective access to care in the event of a medical emergency."
The French consulate added asymptomatic or mild cases should be sent to “a specialised isolation environment with staff who can communicate in English”. The French consulate declined to comment on the letter.
UK Embassy/ Consulate
On April 4h, UK Consular published the following information on their official WeChat account: If you are a British national and have been informed that you are about to be separated from your child for Covid-related reasons, please call us on +86 (0) 10 8529 6600 for 24/7 urgent consular assistance. Subscribe to UK travel advice alerts on China by visiting (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china). This service will email you every time we update travel advice for China.
The British embassy said there were concerns over the conditions and lack of privacy in recently deployed mobile hospital facilities, adding that isolating in diplomatic housing was a “preferable solution and consistent with our Vienna Convention privileges”. “The British consulate general in Shanghai has been raising its concerns about various aspects of the current Covid policies in relation to all British nationals in China, with the relevant Chinese authorities,” a consulate spokesman said.
Other countries
The Australian consulate general in Shanghai, which was cited in the letters, also declined to comment but said it had been engaging with local authorities on the Covid-19 restrictions.
The United States did not appear as a signatory on either letter. However, the US consul general in Shanghai, Jim Heller, told members of a private chat group for US citizens that the consulate had been underscoring many of the concerns raised by the European letter with the Shanghai government. A US embassy spokesman declined to comment on Heller’s remarks but said the treatment of embassy staff in the Covid-19 pandemic was “job one” and that the embassy was engaging on Covid-related policy with the Chinese government.
Other countries, such as Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand, which were mentioned in the letters, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese foreign ministry also did not respond to a request for comment. On Monday, Shanghai official Wu Qianyu said children could be accompanied by their parents if the parents were also infected, but separated if they were not, adding that policies were still being refined.
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