In a recording of a telephone call posted online last week, an audibly exasperated official tells an elderly resident that he is unable to secure the medical attention he requests, saying he is waiting for a response from superiors. “What are we supposed to do?” asks the caller, eliciting a tired response: “I don’t know. There might come a day when I have to quit because I can’t cope anymore.”

After each incident, Chinese official media spring into action. The enervated officials in question are tracked down and interviewed about how they had a moment of weakness but are fully committed to the task at hand. The original story of officials “quitting” is then debunked as rumor.

The latest iteration of this process came over the weekend when a letter from Yang Hai, a deputy representative to the National People’s Congress from Shanghai’s Minhang district, described how he would no longer help collect swab samples for PCR tests because he felt that no progress was being made.

“As a volunteer, we do not fear hardship and are willing to be dedicated but we already deeply doubt the meaning and value of what we are doing,” he wrote. A day later, Yang told a local state-backed news outlet that the letter was not meant for the public and was merely his opinion.