On March 23, Zhou Shengni, a nurse at Shanghai East Hospital, reportedly died a few hours after an asthma attack went untreated. Her family had brought her to the hospital, but it was closed for disinfection as the city locked down.

Her death was seen as a tragic consequence of a health system still scrambling to get a spiraling outbreak under control. As similar stories and calls for help have mounted, so has the public’s anger at local authorities.

Last week, an essay simply titled “Shanghai’s Deceased” began circulating on Chinese social media. The author listed a dozen deaths, starting with Zhou’s, that were blamed in one way or another on stringent COVID restrictions, from patients being denied treatment to suicides. The post was censored, but not before others added what they described as their own similar experiences in the comments.

“They didn’t die from COVID, but because of COVID they died,” said one attempt to commemorate the losses. “They should not be ignored or forgotten.”