Coronavirus Stories - Reaching Out From Isolation

Edited BY G P Kennedy Ellie - Milan, Italy    “How are y'all doing?” a friend from Texas asked me recently. I am happy to report that the contagion rate in Italy have been mostly down. Daily rates of new infections have been around 150 for the country.    I have the feeling, though, that this is due not only to scared people who mostly stick to their masks and distancing, but of the possibility to do things outdoors, which is what helps with holding new infections down. There are many unwelcome signs for change, though. For example, hope for getting rid of plastics, and its dispersal in the environment, is definitely given up.    Now that all coffee shops, company cafeterias and restaurants that hope to have clients indoors are required to outfit their spaces with distancing partitions, plastic has drastically increased. But it has also started causing some awkward moments.    I met with a friend for a coffee recently, our first get together after...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Simon - Perth Western Australia   Well here we go again folks! I hope everyone is safe and well.    Life goes on pretty much as normal in Western Australia. My family and I are well and the kids finish term 2 of school tomorrow. Espe and I have both been working as normal although we are taking the usual precautions.    As this pandemic continues it seems more than ever that there is such a massive divide between how different countries and even regions of the same country are doing.    The situation globally and especially in the US is never out of the news with the figures there being on a scale that we simply cannot make sense of here. The other day America had around 40,000 new cases in one day. 40,000.    As things stand right now we have had less than 8,000 cases here since the outbreak started. Around 700 are still active and we have had 106 deaths. By contrast the US have had 2.6m cases, 1.8m still active and 128...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Sally - London, UK  This week has really, really gone slowly for me, but the world seems to be moving faster and faster.  Non-essential shops have started to re-open which means the roads and pavements are busier which people taking more risk and not observing the 2-meter (6 feet) rule.  Some of my friends have started to go back to work, which is great for them I guess; hopefully their employers have made it a safe environment.     Football (soccer) has started again, with no fans allowed in the ground, but the risk level hasn’t gone down!!  My colleagues who film the matches say its very surreal to be there when you can actually hear what the players and managers are shouting to each other instead of the deafening cheers are 50,000 fans.    Mané and Salah - two key players for Liverpool FC  Liverpool FC won the Premier League, which is brilliant as the last time they won it was 30 years ago. Unfortunately it broug...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Peace - Lagos, Nigeria  HUMANITY NEEDS A LARGE DOSE OF LOVE  As numbers reached 20,000 and Lagos state having more than 9,000 of the COVID-19 patients the Government this week started enforcing the use of Masks in public spaces and face shields to try to flatten the Curve many people don’t understand that COVID-19 is increasing in our communities as local transmission rates are at 50%.    The Black lives matter BLM around the world continued to make a point of asking Governments to realize that all humans are equal. The world over color, religion and tribe are issues. Tribalism is a big issue in my country Nigeria as well, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa being the predominant tribes have deep issues amongst themselves.    The world needs a load of love, the whole world is at war with itself, the lockdown brought out a lot of pent up anger triggered by the killing of George Floyd and that seemed to spark the anger that many people had decided it wa...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Today we have a feast of photos to support and illustrate our Stories from Tokyo, Japan ands Milan, Italy. It is interesting to see Ian and Minako's experience, from a place where the virus has been well contained, side-by-side with Ellie's perspective from a virus-ravaged Italy as it starts to emerge from its deep lockdown.                                                       Ian & Minako – Tokyo, Japan   We are both very well, sheltering from the rain and trying to stay cool in this muggy season !     The number of daily reported cases for Tokyo has increased slightly as society has opened up more to a 7-day average of 18. A significant proportion of the new cases can be traced to nightlife destinations in Shinjuku. In total, there have been 314 deaths in Tokyo so far.    Nationally there have been ov...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Wish You Were Here?  Hi – I hope you are staying safe and well. Week 11 marks a shift in the way we are doing things here at Global Village 2020.    We are going to start focusing more on individual and pairs of stories. To do this we will publish one or two Stories each day, starting each Monday. I hope you had the opportunity to read Peace’s moving Story Monday.    There will still be the occasional weeks when we decide to focus on a topic or single issue. Look out next week for our contribution to the current global conversation about equality and justice.    Our brave New Week continues with contributions from Simon and Espe in Australia, and a very differently appointed Gul, in Turkey.     Simon and Espe – Perth, Australia  Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and traveling ok.    So its week…something…of the pandemic and it looks like its showing no signs of slowing down globally.    I am w...

Edited BY G P Kennedy This week we give our opening page to our sister, Peace. She is suffering the loss of a dear friend at a time when her home town and country are struggling with the global pandemic. Let us all reach out our arms to support Peace at a very difficult time. We are with you, Ogechi. Dear friend, Ibidun, with her family Peace – Lagos, Nigeria    It has been a busy week; working on the phone, Google hangouts, Zoom meetings, I’m tired of Zoom and Zoom conferences. Data costs are ridiculous.    The Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign escalated around the world as protesters continued to make a point of asking Governments to realize that all humans are equal.    People defied the social distancing laws. “So, is COVID-19 real?” someone asked me. Many people who have a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is a Biological virus that was released to reset the world order.    Remember we have all been locked down in our homes for over two ...