While the world tumbles down an unknown and pretty scary path, the most important thing is to remember we are not alone.
On March 15th, the City of Calgary official declared a state of emergency, shutting down all city recreation centres and public libraries, and urging businesses to send workers home. The federal government has since released strict guidelines for practicing social distancing and protecting our most vulnerable groups with consistent sanitization and maintaining a safe distance of 6 feet or more from the people we don’t live with.
The world is going through drastic changes right now, but regardless, humans around the globe are finding ways to stay connected and help each other through this tough time. Here’s what some people around the world have to say about social distancing in their communities.
1. Sanjoy Narayan from Vaasa, Finland
Sanjoy wrote a diary post for LiveMint on his experience in Finland. In his city of Vaasa, he explains that not many cases had been found, but that the virus was still a shock to his community. He writes that despite all of the fear and unknowingness, his community is still coming together to hope for the best.
In Finland there is a concept called sisu. It is not easily translatable but it means a spirit of stoic determination and tenacity of purpose. Finns are hardy people and their history has been one of wars and struggles. And most Finns pride themselves on their spirit of sisu.
Sanjoy Narayan on LiveMint
2. Italy
Around a month ago, a couple of Italians were asked to film a video of what they would have told themselves ten days ago. This video demonstrates pretty well how quickly everything has escalated, but that people are still willing to work through it and stick together. One woman offers insight into her perspective of the situation, by telling herself from 10 days ago that “you’ll see beauty and ugliness together.”
3. Daniel Yang from Wuhan, China
Daniel has been sharing via Tiktok the extreme measures that his city has taken to stop the spread. Unlike Sanjoy from Finland, who lives in a small city with a small population, Daniel comes from a city of 11 million and says the virus has halted his city and emptied the streets.
https://www.tiktok.com/@danielouyang/video/6788113089385467142
4. Mac Schwerin from Singapore
Some methods of protection are different than the ones we’ve become used to in the past couple of weeks. In Singapore, for example, Mac writes
In public, thermal readers have been placed at checkpoints to high-traffic areas. They feature fixed cameras that pick up your heat signature and display it on monitors manned by bored-looking bureaucrats. It is impossible to walk past one of these stations, as I do several times a day, without worrying an alarm will go off and a cage will suddenly drop from above, like in that game Mouse Trap.
5. Ali Mollasalehi from Tehran, Iran
Iran is facing one of the worst outbreaks around the world right now. With numbers of cases reaching almost as high as the ones in Italy, France or China, it’s become difficult to social distance in such a crowded country. Ali was especially concerned with New Year celebration, as he thought this would only encourage people to leave their homes.
It’s just 15 days to Persian New Year (Nowruz). At this time of the year, everybody is usually shopping and getting ready to celebrate. All of that is now under a huge shadow of fear of coronavirus. Shops are nearly empty, making the bad economy even worse.
Ali also writes about finding hope and keeping our heads up.
Although social networks are the source of many fake claims, others are using it to try to cheer each other up. One of my friends last night posted a photo of her singing beautifully on Instagram. Doctors and nurses are making viral videos of themselves dancing in their hazmat suits. We are trying to make light of the horror that is upon us.
Sources used: https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/quarantine-diaries-vaasa-finland-s-spirit-of-sisu-11585326425315.html
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/6/21163362/coronavirus-covid-19-quarantine-china-italy-iran-singapore-south-korea
@danielouyang Wuhan city centre POV #foryou #sad #coronavirus #wuhan #pov #fyp
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/3/20/21186852/quarantine-videos-italy-wuhan-tiktok
Featured image found on: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/civic_health_and_social_distancing
