PART 1

“How’s your quarantine” is a project where I had video calls with people around the world to hear about their experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic, what restrictions they have in their countries and how they spend their days, in lockdown or not?

The countries included in this first video are Italy, USA, Netherlands, Russia, Australia and United Arab Emirates.

Giovanna, who lives both in Italy and Spain saw this coming early from friends in China alerting her. “I put my parents in lockdown already in mid-February”, she said.

Someone who is frustrated about not being able to be out climbing is Marianna from Poland. She lives in Ecuador where you are only allowed out to buy food and medicine. All her exercising must be done in the apartment or the building gym.

Restrictions have become tougher lately in Dubai, where Paris GuyInDubai lives. They used to be able to go out for exercise but not they are restricted to only go shopping for food every three days. He points to both the inability to work in the coming summer due to the heat and a very unusual Ramadan which started a few days ago.

Lina finally puts the rumour of the lions on the streets of Moscow to rest. It’s apparently a question of temperature.

Schools might soon start to open in the Netherlands, and even though it is not as strict as in other countries, Lianne sees the progression of the new situation in different stages: from fear to positivity, to fall of morale.

Evelio, who lives in New York where the coronavirus has hit, tries to focus on the possibilities that fewer distractions offer. He also finds it easier to get hold of people, since everyone is conditioned to this new reality.

Darwin, the capital of Northern Territory, Australia has had very few cases and so far no casualties. The military is guarding the border and any valid crossing means two weeks of self-isolation. Siobhan started seeing the effects of coronavirus while on a cruise in early March.

It is clear that most countries in the world, whether they were hit early or later, have seen changes to their normal lives. Without a clear end in sight, people are getting restless as the northern hemisphere moves into spring and early summer. The variety of restrictions in different countries also causes friction in an evermore connected world.

This coming Sunday, part 2, including seven more countries, will come out.

Meanwhile, stay safe, stay clean and stay respectful.