Hi Everyone. Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! I hope that all of you are continuing to stay safe, happy, and healthy. For those of you who work in academia or are teachers, I hope that the start of the summer has been relaxing and enjoyable for all of you. Also, Happy Father’s day to all the father’s reading this, especially my Dad! I hope that you all have a fun day! Additionally, Happy Juneteenth to those in the US!

The Covid-19 Lockdown

I know many of you have expressed concern about the covid-19 lockdown of Shanghai. Before providing all the details on the situation (the official lockdown is over!), I want to thank you for reaching out to me either via e-mail, responding to my previous blog post, or checking in with my parents. Being so far away from my family, I really appreciate knowing that you have been thinking of me. In my last two entries, I went through the timeline of the covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai, which began in mid-March, through the middle in May. So, I’ll begin there.

In my last update, I discussed how at the beginning of May, Shanghai again implemented strict covid-19 policies, even though the number of cases was rapidly dropping around the city. As a result, during much of May, I was unable to leave my compound/neighborhood (without permission, which was generally only given for medical appointments and flights out of China). Thankfully, I was able to get food deliveries, so unlike at the beginning of the lockdown in April, I was much less concerned with getting food for myself or my cats.

Despite being kept in my neighborhood, we were still required to be frequently tested. On May 19 and May 20, my neighborhood was tested. As per usual, we were required to do the antigen test prior to going down for the PCR test. This pattern continued on both May 22nd and 24th. Thankfully, every time, I have tested negative and there were no further cases within my compound. For those of you who are curious, I generally found out that we need to be tested either the night before or that morning via a message in one of the community WeChat groups.

Around this time (the last week of May), I began to see rumors about the lockdown ending. I saw on WeChat that some of my friends compounds were issued passes allowing them to leave their compounds for 2-3 hours at a time. Thankfully, on May 25th, my neighborhood issued these passes (we were a few days later than some of my friend’s compounds because of the low vaccination rate among the elderly, 60+, in my neighborhood). However, even with this sign of opening up, testing didn’t relent. To use the passes, you had to have had a negative PCR test within 48 hours, so, unsurprisingly, on May 26th, 27th and 30th, we had to be tested again. Thankfully, once again, I was negative and there were no further cases in my neighborhood.

On May 27, I left my compound for the first time in almost a month. I didn’t do anything special, I just went for a 3 mile walk (1 big loop that is part of a run I like to do). Below are some of the photos that I took.

As you can tell from the first few photographs, Shanghai was eerily quiet. I didn’t really see many people and it felt very odd. Some highlights, in the first row, you can see that at this point, the subway/metro was still closed. In the second row, you can see the tiny testing booths that are setup all around the city to help facilitate the frequent PCR tests that are required. In the third row, you can see someone getting their hair cut. Unlike in the US, where many people grew out their hair and/or beards during lockdown, in Shanghai, people couldn’t get hair cuts fast enough. In the fourth row, you can see a little tent village that was set up. While I’m not 100% sure what this is for, based on what I’ve read, I believe that this is likely where delivery drivers were sleeping. There were news reports that many delivery drivers were not allowed back into their own neighborhoods, despite needing to test negative every day (both by PCR and antigen) to deliver packages. Shanghai runs on the back of these delivery workers, who are paid very little, so it was disheartening to hear how poorly many of them were treated. Lastly, in the bottom row, you can see that there were some areas with small signs of life.

Thankfully, things continued to move in a positive direction. On June 1st, Shanghai announced that the lockdown was over! Unfortunately, this was not the end of the covid-19 stress. To go to any stores or use public transportation, people are required to have a negative PCR test within 72 hours. Moreover, if/when people test positive or are close contacts, they’re still sent to quarantine facilities, a prospect that remains very scary. So, even though starting from the beginning of June, I was able to go out, there now exists the added stress of interacting with someone who was positive or a close contact and that leading to being taken away from my home and cats.

Even though we’re now free, for the most part, I’m spending the vast majority of time working from home. On June 1st, I did go out, mostly to get a PCR test, but I ended up running into my friends Hannah Maia and Sydney (as well as a few other people I know from F45). After not seeing any of my friends in person for almost a month, it was really nice to just walk around and chat with some of my friends!

I even was able to get ice cream (peach and matcha) to celebrate! Since it’s now summer, and very hot, it was a nice way to celebrate the first day of “freedom.”

Three days later, I went and got another PCR test, thankfully again negative. This time, I went to a little setup station in Pocket park (a nearby dog park). However, over the first couple of days in June there were a few sporadic cases around Shanghai (a trend that has unfortunately continued). On June 5th, we were told (at 8pm) that we would have to be tested that evening (no explanation for why was given). I later learned that there was a case 3 blocks away, so the neighborhood committee decided that everyone in the Tianping subdistrict of Xuhui (where I live) would need to be tested for 3 straight days.

Thankfully every time, I have tested negative and after the 7th, we were able to go back to getting tested every three days.

However, there have still some larger outbreaks, one related to a hair salon (where workers tested positive and there were hundreds of close contacts), so Shanghai remains on edge. Moreover, another policy was instituted, requiring every person to get at least 1 PCR test each week or have their QR codes turn yellow. Apparently, there were many people who were not testing because they were either not leaving their homes or not going to public places and the government feared these “silent” or “hidden” cases were causing the sporadic cases. So, each weekend. every district is now required to have mandatory community PCR testing. Showing that this will be around for a while, this testing was announced to continue through the end of July.

Over the last week or so, things have been relatively normal for me. I’ve been able to go to import stores and fruit stores and have my groceries delivered. I’ve had to be tested again (again I went to Pocket Park, which is my regular testing place). For each test, I have to present a card from my neighborhood committee, showing I live in Xuhui, then show my green QR code, then wait in line. Usually it takes a few minutes and then we get the results within 8-12 hours.

One benefit of both the lockdown easing (deliveries reopening) and the lockdown ending is that it’s been significantly easier getting food. Almost all the delivery services that I use (Eleme, Meituan, Hema) are back up and running so I no longer have to worry about what foods I can get, whether I’m getting enough protein to eat, or what certain Chinese vegetables are. I did get a few more gifts from the Shanghai government (more flour) and I also did a fun group buy of Ritter Sports chocolate (I probably got too much, but it won’t go bad anytime soon – also, Ritter Sports chocolate is really great)!

In total, in the past month, I’ve taken 15 PCR tests and 15 antigen tests (not counting the ones I took today). Thankfully each one has been negative. While I’m not quite as stressed out about each PCR test, it’s still nerve wracking to be tested so frequently and feels somewhat unsustainable (though I currently have 40+ antigen tests in my apartment that have been given to me and all other residents by the neighborhood committee). Moreover, I’ve continued to be fortunate. While my compound has remained open, many compounds have gone back into lockdown either for 14 days or 1 week as a result of close contacts or individual cases, including the neighborhoods where two of my friends live. So, there’s still a lot of anxiety for those of us in Shanghai. Though the worst of this round of pandemic lockdowns appears to over, it still feels like China’s attitude towards covid-19 and those who get sick is unnecessarily harsh and punitive. While the rest of the world has accepted that they must live with covid-19, China still appears to be hanging on to the belief that dynamic zero is feasible and the only way to move forward. Moreover, this weekend, we received a notice encouraging all people over 60 who are not vaccinated to do so. It’s unclear why this didn’t happen sooner, but I hope that those numbers increase.

For those of you who are wondering, how Emmet’s doing, I want to let you all know that Emmet continues to be safe and healthy in Beijing. The city has done a similar reopening to what happened in Shanghai, and like Shanghai, they’ve also had surges of addition cases, though slightly higher at about 10-20 cases a day. As a result of the most recent outbreak, despite the Beijing policy being PCR testing every 72 hours, Emmet has been tested almost daily for the last few weeks. At the moment, it’s unclear when these restrictions will be lifted and whether we’ll be able to go visit one another.

Although I don’t want to comment on the economic toll of the lockdown, since I can’t add anything insightful to that, I do want to comment on the human toll. At least for the expat communities within Shanghai, the lockdown, combined with the stress inducing policies for families, pets, or close contacts has caused many of the Kehilat Shanghai community members and many of my friends to decide to leave China. While this is a decision I completely understand and respect, it is one that makes me incredibly sad. While I’m hopeful that I’ll get to see all of my friends at least once in person before they go, it’s sad not knowing if/when I’ll see many of these people again and it makes every in person gathering somewhat sadder because it’s usually the last time I’ll see someone. My Shanghai community, particularly the Kehilat Shanghai Community has been so vital to my life and enjoyment of my time in Shanghai, so it’s sad knowing that about half my friends will no longer be in Shanghai by the end of the summer.

For those of you who are wondering, I won’t be leaving China just yet, mostly because the vast majority of postdocs will be announced in the fall and thus I would be unable to get a new position until summer/fall of 2023. However, I’ll keep you all updated on the postdoc search as it progresses, since that will occupy much of the fall/winter.

Astronomy in Shanghai

As I mentioned, I’ve continued to work from home this past month. Thankfully, a few weeks ago after ~ 73 days of living in the office, my supervisor, Ying, was finally allowed to return to his home. This past week, SJTU announced that if you want to come to campus you must have a negative PCR test within 48 hours and get tested immediately upon arrival. Additionally, you aren’t allowed to go to any of the common spaces (including the canteen), unless you are on campus for 3 straight days without leaving. Furthermore, you aren’t allowed to take public transportation to enter campus. Because I’m able to work from home without any difficulty, and currently don’t have any need to go to campus, I’ll be working from home for most (or all) of the summer.

In terms of research, this was another fairly productive month. Last month, I mentioned that my paper for Project Outskirts, my intra-cluster light analysis (with my collaborator Yuanyuan) was starting the DES internal review process. I received very positive and helpful feedback from both reviewers and am almost done addressing all their comments. Overall, it’s definitely a tighter and clearer manuscript and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to progress to the DES Collaboration wide review in July!

The other project that I spent most of my time on is Project Population, my Luminosity Function analysis! This is actually going to be split into two different papers. One will focus on the evolution of the Luminosity function with redshift, cluster halo mass, and color (separating old red galaxies and younger blue galaxies) and the other paper will focus on the impact of BCG dominance (through the BCG stellar mass and magnitude gap) on the Luminosity function! I’m working on putting together the final data analysis and will start drafting these papers soon!

I’ve also made some headway on Project Proxy, my analysis on whether different halo mass proxies impact the Weak Lensing measurement. I’ve finally figured out the bugs in my MCMC code and am just waiting on some new Weak Lensing measurements from collaborators to continue.

Additionally, Emmet and I are starting a new project together combining his expertise in characterizing the properties of Bent Double Lobed Radio AGN with my expertise in low-redshift cluster properties and statistics to characterize the properties of the low-redshift COBRA clusters! Even though Emmet and I chat about our work all the time, it’s fun to actually get to work on a project together!!

Life in Shanghai

Although Shanghai has reopened I’ve been very cautious about what I’ve been willing to do. While I know some people are running around trying to see friends and get back to their full and active social lives, I’ve decided to ease my way back into things. So, most of my activities have not changed very much. I’m still doing the Zoom F45 classes every morning at 8:30 (soon to be 7:30) since the gym is not able to open. There have been a few fun social activities like gathering with friends to celebrate my friend Sydney’s birthday, but for the most part, other than going for a few more walks, my life remains similar to what it was during the less restrictive portion’s of the lockdown. My hope is that as things normalize, I’ll be able to do more in person activities with my friends.

Unsurprisingly, much of my life has been preoccupied with Scottie and Charlie! My adorable and lovable cats are both doing very well! Though they may make it hard for me to get enough sleep, since they tend to wake me up a little after sunrise (by 6am), I can’t imagine my life without them!

Here’s a series of photos of them being adorable!

And here’s even more cute shots of Scottie and Charlie together!

This past week, I also took Scottie and Charlie to the vet for the first time (they’d been before I adopted them). They were able to get their third vaccine and will be neutered next week!

As you can see neither Scottie nor Charlie was particularly happy to be there. Unfortunately, Scottie has become very skittish around other people. When my Ayi (my cleaning lady) comes, he hides under my bed or behind the curtains. He did the same thing when Sydney came to help me bring Scottie and Charlie to the vet. I’m hopeful that as I begin to have friends over again, that he’ll start to warm up to other people.

In addition to all my cute photos of Scottie and Charlie, I also wanted to share some cute photos of the neighborhood cats!

Even though I didn’t do as much socializing this month, it’s been nice to ease my way back into seeing people. It’s still weird being in large groups, even outside, since for so long basically all my interactions were virtual. However, I look forward to some more fun activities (and probably more farewell parties than I’d like) later this summer.

Jewish Life in Shanghai

We’ve continued to have many virtual Kehilat Shanghai events this past month. Since Beijing has had cases flare up, Emmet and I have been co-leading Zoom services each week! It’s great fun to lead together and I hope that we have the opportunity to do it together in person later this summer/fall! Even though attendance hasn’t always been robust, I really appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the week.

Additionally, my friend Hannah Maia organized a talk with a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, living in Los Angeles, for the Kehilat community. It was very moving hearing her talk about her childhood and vivid experiences as a child. I’m grateful that we had the opportunity to learn from her.

We also had another fun Zoom Trivia night! I wrote three rounds of trivia questions (included at the end) and Emmet’s team, made up of his colleagues at Tsinghua won! I’ll have to treat them to dinner (the prize) whenever I’m able to visit Beijing!

Lastly, this past Friday, some of the community members organized an in person Family Shabbat! This was particularly meaningful since my friend Ha’s family will be moving to Singapore at the end of the month and one of our other board member’s, Dan, is moving back to Israel with his family. It was so much fun to see everyone for the first time in almost 3 months and come together for a final Shabbat. Although, I hope that I’m able to see them again before they leave, I’m so grateful I had this opportunity. As I’ve said here many times before, as a single person living in Shanghai, I’m so grateful that the families within the Kehilat community, in particular Ha and Nadav, have invited me into their circle and always include me! It’s led to many wonderful friendships that I hope to maintain even when we’re all no longer living in Shanghai. 🙂

What I’m Reading and Watching

With life still not quite back to normal, I’ve still been able to read and watch a lot of things. I’m working my way through both the 2nd season of The Witcher and the 2nd book in the series! Both of which I’m greatly enjoying!

Some other highlights are The After Party on Apple TV. It’s probably because I’m two years away from my 15th high school reunion (something I have no plans or desire to attend), so I was the target audience, but I really enjoyed this mixture of whodunnit murder investigation and mid-late 2000s high school nostalgia! I also really enjoyed the first season of Alex Rider on Amazon Prime! Emmet and I have been reading the Alex Rider book series since we were in middle school (though there are a few recent books we need to read) and it was great fun to watch the series, about a teenage British M15 spy, come to life! I’m looking forward to watching the 2nd season later this summer.

TV wise, the main highlight for me was watching Rafael Nadal win the French Open for a whopping 14th time, his 22nd major overall! As many of you know, I’m a huge Rafa fan and love watching him play! While it wasn’t always convenient for my sleep schedule, It was so impressive seeing him battle through his foot injury to overcome Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16, Novak Djokovic in the quarters, Sascha Zverev in the semis, and Casper Ruud in the finals! Rafa is a true champion and his attitude and perseverance is something I try to take with me in my own life and work. Rafa is the greatest tennis player of all time! It was a fantastic tournament on both the men’s and women’s side with Iga Swiatek dominating the tournament and winning her 2nd French Open Title! I’m looking forward to Wimbledon and hopeful that Rafa can put together a strong tournament on the grass!

Thank you so much for all of your interest in my life. I hope that this update brings you some relief to know that the situation is improving (though still not normal). If you have any questions about anything I’ve written, particularly about the lockdown, please don’t hesitate to reach out either in the comments or via e-mail. If you’re looking for other resources to understand the situation in Shanghai and China, I highly recommend looking at the Economist. I hope that you all enjoyed the photos of Scottie and Charlie as much as I enjoyed taking them. I hope that all of you have a safe, happy, healthy, and productive month.

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

Adaptations — Given the lead actor, the character they play, and the author, name the book or book series

1). Henry Cavill — Geralt of Rivia; Andrzej Sapkowski

2). Tom Hanks — Michael Sullivan; Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner

3). Matthew McConaughey — Mickey Haller; Michael Connelly

4). Robin Wright — Buttercup; William Goldman

5). Taraji P. Hanson — Katherine Johnson; Margot Lee Shetterly

6). Bradd Pitt — Tyler Durden; Chuck Palahnuik

7). Elisabeth Moss — June Osborne; Margaret Atwood

8). Tom Hiddleston — Jonathan Pine; John Le Carre

9). Saorise Ronan — Jo March; Louisa May Alcott

10). Frances McDormand — Fern; Jessica Bruder

Answers: 1). The Witcher, 2). Road to Perdition, 3). The Lincoln Lawyer, 4). The Princess Bride, 5). Hidden Figures, 6). Fight Club, 7). The Handmaid’s Tail, 8). The Night Manager, 9). Little Women, 10). Nomadland

Before and After — The popular Jeopardy category, where the last word of the first answer is the first word of the 2nd answer

1). The 2nd leading scorer in NBA history and this novel by Rol Dahl

2). The most famous NBA player from China and this popular and well known Chinese American chef who resides in Boston and has appeared on or hosted TV shows including East Meets Wests and the revival of Iron Chef.

3). This star of Baywatch and this CNN host who is a member of the Vanderbilt Family

4). The fifth musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on Margaret Landon’s novel and this Will Smith starring movie based on science fiction stories by Isaac Asimov.

5). This 2x reigning Olympic Gold medalist in the Women’s half pipe (snowboarding) and this retired Belgian tennis star who won 4 majors, including 3 US Opens.

6). This 1971 movie starring Clint Eastwood as a tough as nails San Francisco Police Inspector and Erik Weisz.

7). The Queen of Soul and the longest serving president in US history.

8). This star of the Hunger Games and this 1962 British historical epic based on the book Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

9). This American Rockband known for song’s including Dark Star and Uncle John’s Band and this 1989 teen drama staring Robin Williams.

10). This historical drama about Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda and the workplace of Inspector Lestrade.

Answers: 1). LeBron James and the Giant Peach 2). Yao Ming Tsai 3). Pamela Anderson Cooper 4). The King and I, Robot 5). Chloe Kim Clijsters 6). Dirty Harry Houdini 7). Aretha Franklin D. Roosevelt 8). Jennifer Lawrence of Arabia 9). The Grateful Dead Poet’s Society 10). The Last King of Scotland Yard

What happened in the World while Shanghai was Locked Down?

1). On April 3rd, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared at this award ceremony, urging viewers to help Ukraine in any way they could.

2). On April 7th, this justice is confirmed to the US Supreme Court, making her the first black woman to serve on the court.

3). On April 12th, Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach on field during a Major League Baseball game when she coached for this team.

4). On April 24th, Emmanuael Macron win’s his 2nd term as President defeating this opponent.

5). On April 25th, Elon Musk comes to an agreement to buy Twitter for this amount of Money.

6). On May 2nd a draft of an opinion written by this Supreme Court Justice was leaked overturning Roe v. Wade.

7). On May 10th, Apple announced it was discontinuing a product which ended the production of this long running product.

8). On May 13th, this object at the center of the MW was observed for the first time with the Event Horizon Telescope.

9). On May 14th, this Ukrainian group wins Eurovision.

10). On May 22nd this team wins it’s 2nd consecutive Premier League title and 4th in 5 years.

Answers: 1). The Grammy’s 2). Ketanji Brown Jackson 3). San Francisco Giants 4). Marine Le Pen 5). 44 Billion Dollars 6). Justice Samuel Alito 7). Ipod 8). Sagittarius A* 9). Kalush Orchestra 10). Manchester City