Edited by G P Kennedy
Gul – Istanbul, Turkey
It’s surprising that everything is becoming more and more normal. Now, when I look at from our window, it’s almost disturbing to see a person without a mask or people side by side. Yesterday I found myself Googling ‘how to keep my eyeglasses from fogging up while wearing a face mask.’ How funny.
There was a spring celebration on the 6th May, called Hidrellez, the awakening of the nature, to remember the helpers and those in need. To mark this day, people usually do some activities connected with nature, for example they draw their wishes on the earth. This year friends were asking each other how they can do while they were indoors. Most of them wrote their wishes on a paper and buried it under a flowerpot. Nature solves everything.
Nationally there have been over 140k cases and 3700 deaths as of Friday, 8th May in Turkey.
As I mentioned before, Turkey introduced weekend curfews and stay-home orders for those over the age of 65 and those under 20 years old and people with chronic illnesses. Almost two months now, they couldn’t step out of their tiny city apartments even for a short walk.
The government now eased curfew restrictions for people over the age of 65, those with chronic illnesses and young people under 20 years old. People over 65 would be allowed to leave their homes, remaining within walking distance, and wearing masks on Sunday between 11am-3pm.
Unfortunately, my husband will be teaching via online class but I am planning to go out. Can’t wait! I can go somewhere in a walking distance. In addition, children under 14 years old will be allowed out on Wednesday during the same hours, while 15-20 years old would be able to leave either houses on Friday. Also, this Sunday is Mother’s Day so flower shops will be able to operate for home deliveries despite curfew over the weekend.
President Erdoğan has announced a ‘normalization schedule’ while the Health Ministry has reported the lowest new cases and deaths for over a month.
Following the statements of ‘normalization’, the streets have got crowded. Shopping malls and hairdressers will be opening soon. However, I don’t feel comfortable with the decision. I think it’s too soon put people at risk. We know it’s all about saving the economy.
The restrictions soon will likely be loosened up and mask requirement carry on. But Turkish people are known for their thoughtlessly break the rules.
I heard the UK government is launching a mobile app for tracking and tracing the coronavirus.
Our Ministry of Health has launched similar application that enables people to detect and monitor the COVID-19 cases in their districts. The app, which can be voluntarily downloaded, helps some warnings of coronavirus hot spots, the density of infected people and the density of people in isolation at the users’ locations. I downloaded the app on the first day but deleted after reading news about the risk of mass surveillances. Our app asks our identity number, information about our close relatives’ health conditions also request permission to track our movements. We should definitely use the new technologies but these shouldn’t be a choice between privacy and health.
Istanbul is still the epicenter of the pandemic in Turkey and millions of people living in the city who rely on daily income have been unable to work for almost two months.
The Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu has launched a new campaign to show solidarity with the families during the difficult days and he asked us to pay utility bills to those who cannot afford. I selected one of submitted bill and paid, goodness is contagious. In addition, my sister and I made donation to the families who can’t afford food. Helping others support our own mental health and wellbeing.
Making a priority to stay in touch with friends and family, it reminds us we’re not alone. My WhatsApp groups were busy connecting each other.
Two musicians of a popular folk music group, Group Yorum that is banned in Turkey have died of a hunger strike. First the singer Helin Boyek (28 years old) than yesterday Ibrahim Gokcek (41 years old) died. They started the strike demanding that their band be allowed to resume concerts, and jailed band members to be released. We were devastated by the news. I didn’t want to do anything or talk to anyone yesterday. We listened and shared their songs last night.
Ian & Minako – Tokyo, japan
The number of daily reported cases for Tokyo has been quite low this week averaging 56. There have been 180 deaths so far. Nationally there have been over 15,623 cases and 622 deaths.
Bowing to pressure from the central government and media, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has just released more data on the number of coronavirus tests conducted and the infection rate dating back to late January. The figures are still confusing but it does improve transparency and appears to indicate that Tokyo’s testing with an infection rate of 7.5% is now adequate (at one point in March the infection rate reached 31.6%!)
The Golden Week holiday has ended and most people seemed to have conformed to the advice to stay home or at least local and not travel. Public areas are still busy but it’s all local people, families and kids not wanting to stay indoors but wearing masks and keeping social distance (apart from the few idiots you’ll find everywhere).
As expected the national government announced that the stay home restrictions are extended to at least the end of May. But now some prefectures where there have been few cases are lifting restrictions, which runs the risk of people from infected areas traveling to those places.
Finally, small-ish signs have gone up at all the entrances to the park asking walkers and joggers to wear masks and not spend more than an hour there. Of course, some ignore or don’t see the notices and we’ve never seen any signs of enforcement but there is a marked improvement.
The Japanese love exchanging gifts, there’s a very strong gifting culture. There’s the somewhat formal etiquette for gifting when meeting people or businesses but what’s really nice is the more impulsive generosity, when people have more than they need of something they share it amongst family and friends.
In recent days we have received bamboo shoots (already prep’d and cooked), a large bag of snap peas, a couple of melons, a couple of Japanese citrus, a bag of assorted veg, and even a portion of delicious homemade curry. Lots of them have been delivered ‘contact-less’, left in bags hanging from our apartment door. So grateful!
Our bit of giving included donating our government-issued masks via ‘Mask Post’ a collection box to a welfare center.
One of the public holidays this week (May 5th) was “Children’s Day”, a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. Traditionally, “koinobori”, the large colorful carp windsocks are suspended over waterways for a few days leading up to the holiday.
Everybody looks forward to seeing them and we usually hire a boat to row under the ones hanging across the lake in our park. This year, not only are the boats not available but the koinobori are not there. There are still a few koinobori hanging from poles in private gardens and nurseries, which is nice to see.
Amabie is everywhere. Until recently probably few people, even in Japan, had heard of this longhaired, beaked, three-legged merman but now his image is everywhere online and even on Ministry of Health posters. According to legend he lives in the sea and once said "Good harvest will continue for six years from the current year, if disease spreads, draw and show a picture of me to those who fall ill and they will be cured." So now everyone is being very creative at making pictures of Amabie as a coronavirus countermeasure. We have seen Amabie style koinobori and we baked Amabie cookies. Search for #amabie to see lots of great efforts. Maybe you, dear reader, would like to draw your own Amabie and show it to people?
Tassy – Karachi, Pakistan
As I sit down to write my weekly report I have a foreboding sense of Groundhog Day. The weeks are going by surprisingly fast but my sense of achievement for the past week has been nil, unless you count the survival of yet another week under lockdown as an accomplishment. My routine has remained unchanged, and my level of apathy seems to be increasing.
It has been announced that there will be an ease in restrictions and many businesses will be allowed to resume their activities. This news comes the day after our province records its largest number of cases in a day. With this latest move, cases are expected to surge. Experts are predicting a peak in cases by early June.
The timing is particularly bad as it clashes with the end of Ramadan and the largest festival in the Muslim calendar - Eid ul Fitr, celebrating the end of 30 days of fasting. Typically it is a joyous time for everyone with family gatherings, lots of shopping at late night markets, festivities with lights and decorations, and gifts exchanged, much like Christmas. Celebrations will undoubtedly be hampered.
I had my mother in law home for dinner. She is 86 years old and lives on her own. There were no hugs but we chatted across the table and ate. This was followed by a zoom call with my husband’s side of the family, all based in the US. It was her first time using this platform and although it was good for her to see everyone on one screen, she found it difficult to chat with and hear everyone simultaneously.
We are continuing the experiment with my parents by having them over for dinner and planning a Zoom call with my side of the family in the UK. Everyone is slowly trying to find novel ways of meeting others in a safe manner. Karachi, despite having a population of 22 million people, has few parks or open spaces to speak of, and with the summer heat peaking at 104f/40c, escaping the confines of our homes for a walk is not an option. I am envious of friends living overseas whose photos I see who at least have the luxury of walking on the beach or in parks.
Since I’m self-employed, I am now beginning to think about what steps I should take for when I do resume my work in a manner that will ensure the safety of my clients and myself. Also, if the next year is going to create a new norm of repeated cycles of lockdowns and easing of restrictions, I want to start thinking about what else I can do in terms of enrichment, be it concentrating more on my hobbies or learning an entirely new skill. Motivation however is the key, and that’s something I am lacking at the moment. Hopefully this will come in time.
Sally – London, UK
After last week’s boredom, I’ve kind of got back into the swing of doing nothing. I think the weather has really helped, as it’s been nice and sunny. Although today the weather seems to have turned and I dread to think what we will do next week if it rains all the time. We have been using the sunny days to let the baby walk/run/fall over in the park, so not sure what we will do if it rains?
Supposedly the numbers of cases have leveled off and our Prime Minister is coming up with what they call ‘a road map’ of how things will pan out over the next few weeks/months. There is talk of a deadline when lockdown will be over?? But this talk alone had lead to more and more people think that it’s ok to go out and socialize. During the good weather the police were called to many mass gatherings where gangs of people where sitting in parks even ordering pizzas and wine deliveries?
The 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day was celebrated on Friday, lots of streets had ‘socially distanced’ street parties, which look great on paper but the more and more people had to drink the closer and closer they got.
I mentioned last week that I had had a part of my car stolen, well it’s still not fixed! Covid 19 has caused many businesses to shut including car manufacturers so the insurance company can’t source the part needed.
I know this is a first world problem, for many as having a car is a luxury, but when you have a young baby and are trying to be sensible by only doing one big shop every few weeks, it makes life hard and means you have to do lots of little shops as you can only carry a certain amount of stuff under the pram, and the more you go out to shops, the more you are putting yourself and others at risk.
We have been doing a lot of quizzes with friends online over the last few weeks and it’s our turn to make the questions up. I have really enjoyed researching questions on TV, Film, Music, General Knowledge etc. and I hope my friends really find it fun.
A lowlight is that a friend of mine lost his mum, not to Cover 19 but it stopped him from getting on a plane and being with her and also attending her funeral. I can’t imagine what he must be going through and it breaks my heart thinking about it.
Peace – Lagos, Nigeria
Well it's been a busy week of the partial lockdown. There has been increased testing and increasing numbers, it's getting higher faster, remember we cannot cope with any phenomenal numbers.
We have major infrastructure issues in terms of medical facilities. My worries are turning to reality especially in relation to when community transmission increases in rural areas .The COVID19 Pandemic is growing many rules every week very soon I fear they will tell us the air we breathe may be contagious, this week the latest studies show that it probably can be transmitted via sexual acts.
All in all the world seems to be dealing with so many issues all mixed up with the Pandemic and all I can see is that the poor people will end up losing out in the battle of capitalism. We have had to deal with religious bodies that want worship centers opened again, one even went as far as saying who ever doesn't want the church's open should die.
Well am in the mood to just observe everything and every one.
It's been a very reflective week in solace, many people feel that we will get used to social distancing and not want to have physical meetings.
I actually think we may go back to abandoning the digital world as we crave physical contact, especially the ability to just get into the car and drive out, I miss that freedom of expression and the experience of conversations on early Sunday Morning coffee at the Orchid Bistro with Chumsy and Gracia. I have coffee and they have milk shake and then we discuss school music and football, my nieces and I will normally look for one song to dance to do Karaoke with. One our songs were by Stormzy.
I also realize that lockdown and Coronavirus will unleash a new demon illness into the world.
Mental health issues will sure rise up as people contemplate all kinds of scenarios fuelled by over information via social media, plus for us in Nigeria the Huge amount of fake news and scaremongering going on .you can choose to switch off, this week I totally avoided the news.
I sent a Mass text to people I considered family to check on them, some replied others didn’t that’s fine - conscience is clear I reached out.
We are getting back to work slowly but surely in the interim new normal .For the Nigerian film industry popularly know as Nollywood this probably one of the best things to have happened to help reset the fundamentals of an industry with so much potential.
Motivation has been on a low this week - may be the lack of sleep and the subconscious running wild with things that need to be done but the Pandemic is slowing it down
Needed to see a dentist this week but the fear of Coronavirus kept bearing the pain.
Yes, it's been a noisy week in the community as people went back to work curfew started from 8pm-6am daily.
It was just one of those weeks flying by, I did manage to put out requests to colleagues for MASKUPAFRICA to get them on board, our campaign starts this week and we hope to do a Fundraiser Day on Africa Day on 25th of May.
The reality of the needs in the communities is getting overwhelming by the work that needs to be done to protect the most vulnerable in the society. Lit another Novena candle of prayer this week to speak energy into me just to key in to My CHI (GOD) finding my balance.
It's so important to communicate with people by hearing their voice, WhatsApp messages or Messenger messages may not convey a person's situation to you.
Find someone to really talk to about it all.
This Covid19 update will have to be short. My son’s asthma symptoms are not good and needs attention tonight. He is wheezing and may need to go to the doctors tomorrow. Let's hope it is just the normal winter virus.
This week has been another quiet week of home schooling. Our doctor suggested another week at home.
At present Australia has 6,941 confirmed cases, 97deaths and 6,163 recovered covid-19 cases.
This week in Australia more social distancing restrictions have been lifted. Shopping centers have re-opened and news updates have recorded high numbers of visitors causing concern. Small group gatherings are now permitted. Life is going back to normal much sooner than I expected.
Highlight - we went for a family bush walk on Mother's Day and I hugged a beautiful old Jarrah tree.
Lowlight - our Guinea pig passed away this week.
Daniel – New York City, USA
Continuing to work on music and video projects and feeling good about that. Getting out to run just about every day, which remains not only a mood elevator but also serves as a way for me to see what’s going on around the city.
A very regular route takes me through Chinatown and it’s just absolutely deserted. This is a part of town that would ordinarily be packed with people and cars and it’s just a ghost town. But this was a good week, with every day feeling at least a bit productive. And, for that, I’m hugely grateful.
It’s impossible, given what’s going on, to not understand how fortunate we’ve been to have our health, our apartment, and more than enough food to eat. What's been happening where you are?
The good news is that a bunch of people in the White House have either been diagnosed with the virus or have been exposed to people who have it. It’s about fucking time that this disease comes home to the people who are responsible for the damage it’s doing.
Our neighborhood continues to get busier. There’s more vehicular traffic, but there just seem to be more people out and about. I think the weather has something to do with it, as does the number of small businesses beginning to open up.
You’re seeing people gathered in small groups on the street outside bars, drinking. My worry is that, as the weather heats up and people get really stir-crazy, they’re going to start getting together in ways that - from a COVID perspective - we might not be ready for. But I get the impulse: it looked like fun.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the week was an afternoon we spent with a friend - at a very safe distance - shooting a short film in Central Park for the Guggenheim Museum. The shoot went well and we spent a lovely hour sitting in a secluded part of the part just catching up.
I had my first negative experience with the healthcare system. We had arranged a tele-med appointment with a specialist to see my father-in-law and the interface the hospital uses - as well as a lack of explanation about it pre-appointment - was terrible. And so, even though we were there and ready to go, the fact that we didn’t have the right app installed meant that they rescheduled the appointment.
That was a bit frustrating, but the really difficult thing was how hostile the employee was about it. I ran medical practices for 30 years and there’s no excuse for the kind of attitude she was throwing off. Was a fucking disgrace.
The money that’s supposed to be getting to people from the government - talking about the ridiculous $1200 checks as well as unemployment - isn’t making it through for many of us. In my case, it’s OK - I have a partner who is working and we can make it for now - but for many people, this is absolutely devastating. Life-changing. How would you feel and act if your city/state/nation opened things back up next week?
I’ll repeat what I say every week: still too early.
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