A Message from the Editor
It ’ s hard to believe how different January 2021 is from January 2020 . Last year , at the beginning of the pandemic , we saw oddly empty streets in this megacity . It was ghostly . We feared long , hard , Wuhan lockdowns , or even disruptions in the food supply chain .
Many expats fled and would later find themselves locked out of returning to their friends and family in China for months . Some people left for good , only find themselves in worse situations at home .
Right now , in Shanghai , life is shockingly normal compared to the rest of the world . Malls , gyms , subway lines , and schools remain open . All of this is because of an intelligent response from the state and the compliance of the people .
SLAS follows strict procedures every day to keep everyone at school safe . Despite the tedious nature of some of these procedures , we follow along out of respect for safety .
Every morning , a crew including the head of school , principals , and others greet and assist staff and students at the gate . Everyone entering the school must present a QR code showing that they ’ ve been safe in Shanghai for 14 days . Finally , we have our
temperatures taken , and we sanitize our hands . If anyone fails to show their QR code or have a high temperature , the staff follow protocol to take care of it .
Teachers report their location and health status every day , and homeroom teachers collect their students ’ health status every day . The administration shares this health data with the government every morning .
Students need to take their temperatures and sanitize their hands before entering class . Students are seated a meter apart , and no one can come within a meter of another person without a mask . Everyone sits in assigned seats to make tracing easier if someone were to be found sick .
Students eat lunch in their homerooms so that social mingling can be kept at a minimum . PE is also practiced with social distancing .
At the end of every day , all surfaces are sanitized . - Robert van West