Dear Friends,
It's clearly been a while since the last post on this blog. For the last 15 months, life in Shanghai carried on as usual as the tight controls around Covid had all but eliminated the virus here, with a city of 25 million people having maybe 5 cases.
Campus Testing
Around the end of February, we started hearing the CDC has been asking schools to conduct onsite testing for students as Covid cases were becoming more prevalent in the community. We started planning for campus-wide Covid testing and sure enough, we were asked to begin testing our students and staff on campus the week of March 8. This was a complicated process that required the collection of QR codes from families and staff and a large amount of disruption to the school day. Three days that week of school were devoted to full campus testing, with no positive cases identified in our school community. We were prepared for another round of testing starting March 14 however, the Shanghai Education Commission called for all schools within the city to switch to virtual learning and rather than testing, our staff spent that Monday preparing for virtual learning which we have not done since May 2020.
 |
| Office staff learning how to use the QR code system |
 |
| Our Head of School getting the first test of day 2. |
During the first week of working from home, people were largely choosing to stay in and compounds were offering Covid testing periodically. I was able to get out for morning runs and the streets were unusually quiet and the parks were closed to prevent people from gathering.
 |
No entry to one of my regular running route
|
Temporary Lockdown
After about a week, compounds were also being temporarily locked down for a few days to conduct testing. As we were working online from home, I wasn't even aware we were in lockdown for a day or two until I tried to leave my compound gates and the guards began yelling at me. After 10 years here, my Mandarin is terrible and the guard grabbed a piece of paper and wrote this message for me. A quick scan of the translation app..."No go out". We were told to remain in the compound and go down for Covid testing daily. After a few days of testing, those that were negative were given cards so we could leave and reenter the compound. No visitors were allowed in. During this time restaurants, gyms, and other businesses began closing.
 |
Happy Hour with a friend who lives
the block behind us. |
March 27
Around 8:30 pm on March 27, the government shared a city-wide lockdown plan for Shanghai. Pudong (the east side of the river) would be locked down beginning the next morning, Monday, March 28 at 5 am for 4 days and then Puxi (the west side of the river) would be locked down beginning April 1 for 4 days. We both work in Pudong but live in Puxi. Our Pudong friends had no time to prepare for this lockdown while those of us in Puxi has four days to prepare for what we were told to be a four-day lockdown. During this time we bought extra water, and food items, placing grocery orders to be delivered before the lockdown was to begin as all services would be shut down beginning April 1. The entire Puxi side of the city was out gathering supplies early every morning.
 |
| Outside a local vegetable market at 6:30 am. |
 |
| The line outside the grocery store at 6:00 am. |
Puxi Lockdown
Along with the first day of lockdown on April 1, our first government-issued food delivery arrived. It included a whole frozen chicken, looking like it had been plucked and tossed in a bag and a bag of greens. With all of Pudong remaining in lockdown, it became increasingly clear that this would last much longer than 4 days. As we had just received a large grocery order, we shared what we could with neighbors in the building.
As the lockdown carried on with regular Covid testing and no regular deliveries, sourcing food and water became an issue after the first week. Much of the week was spent trying to figure out food and water deliveries for us and our school staff as most businesses were closed down. People around the city were connecting on WeChat (similar to What's app) with strangers trying to get food and water delivered. This message was shared by a friend from a water vendor she reached out to for water delivery.
One grocery provider, familiar to westerners with an English platform, was able to get permission from the city to deliver. In order to accommodate the huge need in the city, they started creating boxes of items they thought people would need.
Other companies were offering to deliver in bulk as well and buildings in the compound created group chats to organize group orders. Navigating these chats is difficult as they are all in Chinese and the translation is questionable at best. While one chat is supposed to be dedicated to group buys for food and the other compound news about Covid tests and release, everyone talks about both things in the chat with a lot of small talk that is hard to follow as a foreigner. Setting down the phone for 30 minutes, I can come back to 250 messages. Trying to decipher which of these are important is a full-time job.
School Food Deliveries
Our employers have been generous in sending food boxes. We never know when our schools are sending items or what will be in them. Additionally, we are unsure when the boxes we order will arrive. Some days the refrigerator is nearly empty and then the other it is overflowing with eggs, butter, various meat products, and green vegetables. We spend a lot of time trying to determine how to use some items and the priority of what to eat before it goes bad. We have more white bread, butter, and eggs than we know what to do with.
 |
| More white bread and butter! |
Government Food Deliveries
Every once in a while we see large trucks delivering items and are delighted to open our door to find a surprise box of food items.
 |
| Pickled mustard tuber |
 |
| Too many cucumbers=pickles |
 |
| Lots of egg plant=baba ganoush |
 |
| Government Food Delivery |
 |
| So much cabbage! |
 |
This delivery of salted meat products and salted
duck eggs was given to neighbors. |
 |
| Lots of eggs & butter! |
Lockdown Terms
Navigating this lockdown has been a challenge. While we were expected to stay in the compound, the regular Covid tests identified two positive cases in our building. This caused us to have to stay in our apartment for over two weeks. Deliveries were brought to our door, our trash was picked up and our building was disinfected regularly.
On March 28, our building chat was again confusing so I messaged our compound manager directly. It seems we were once again free to take out the trash and get deliveries.
On March 29, the map below appeared in the building chat and, after some research, we figured out we could leave the compound and stay in these areas. When going down for our Covid test, we took walk around the block. First time out of our compound in 29 days. Being on the street with only about 10 other people was an odd feeling in our usually busy part of town. This freedom was short-lived as by 6 pm that same day, we were told we were no longer allowed to leave. We are unclear about who is making these decisions or the reasons behind them. As guests here we try to do as we are asked.
re.
 |
| First time on this side of the gate in 29 days. |
 |
| This street is normally filled with cars, scooters, and people. |
This is what we've been doing the last month.
Love from Shanghai,
Heather & Brad
