Editor’s note for Tuesday, August 11, 2020

My thoughts today:

How to open schools? As the U.S. and some other countries enter the academic year in a state of disorder, if not downright chaos, Taiwan, South Korea, and China have plans for an orderly resumption of classes.

Xinhua reports on Beijing’s program:

• Opening dates are staggered: Some university classes will start as early as August 15, while senior high schools start on August 29, with primary schools and junior high schools commencing classes on September 1 and 7.

• Students and teachers will be tested for COVID-19. Class sizes will be restricted, students’ temperatures will be checked daily, and some schools are giving their students “a kit that will include a thermometer, face masks, and disinfectant supplies.”
• Crowd sizes in canteens and other high-risk areas will be monitored, with some universities promising the use of artificial intelligence to manage the flow of people.
• Some schools will require students and teachers to have green mobile-phone-based digital health codes to attend classes.

Taiwan has had success even earlier than China: See this paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine for details.

Our word of the day is Fortune 500 (500强 wǔbǎi qiáng). Unabbreviated, it’s Fortune Global 500 ranking (《财富》世界500强排行榜 cáifù shìjiè wǔbǎi qiáng páiháng bǎng).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief