Experiencing lockdown and quarantine in three countries

I spent the first lockdown with my now ex and his bulldog. We hadn’t been dating for very long when he invited me to come live with him in England since my Italian visa was expiring and I had to leave for three months. We got stuck on lockdown and had to live like we were married while spending 24/7 together for 4 months. Our relationship imploded under the pressure and I left when I discovered he was cheating on me virtually. In December I traveled to the US to spend Christmas with my family. I got COVID and had to postpone my return to Italy until I was well enough to travel, which took 4 weeks. I’m finally flying home in a few days. Read more

Having lost a friend who thought he could forego the vaccine

During the lockdown, I missed our small, but very close circle of friends so we did ‘drive-by’ visits and saw each other from the street in our cars. It was weird, but at least we saw each other a bit. My long time assistant was quite ill and I feared we would lose her, but she made it. We lost a dear friend recently because he was convinced to forego the vaccine. It broke us. We are vaccinated – we have done all we can and the rest is in fate’s hands now and I refuse to live in fear when I have done all I can do. Read more

Being happy that all of your friends are vaccinated

I feel like the pandemic has divided many people and groups of people all over the world – or maybe the pandemic has just shown us the differences in possible ways of thinking. I feel like many people in general have become strange during the pandemic, but no wonder: interaction between people happens through conversation and not only hearing words coming from behind a mask (even though is without a doubt absolutely neccessary). I do social-distancing, but I am really happy to only have friends who are also vaccinated. Read more

When you had to work from home for free to keep your job

The situation in Russia is very complicated, I have already forgotten which wave it is – the 3rd or even the 4th. Lockdown was three to four months and going out was forbidden at all. If you had to go somewhere urgently, you should have filled in an online declaration, i.e. a permission, explaining why you have decided to leave your house and where are you going. And of course the permission to leave the house was limited by time, and you could get that permission only two times a week. During the lockdown we had to work from home, for free, so we won’t lose our working position and to keep our clients. Read more

When all your businesses are tourism related and your staff depends on you

The current situation in Sri Lanka is by far at its worse. I believe that we are currently on our 3rd wave. The numbers have been steadily rising. People are worried where their next salary will be coming from, as Sri Lanka has many daily wage workers. People are becoming more and more desperate. As all our businesses are tourism related, we are hoping that with Europe having more than 50% of the population vaccinated and in Sri Lanka you only have to do one night quarantine, we would become a more attractive place to visit. Read more

Being locked up a whole year

Here in Peru, we are at the end of the 2nd wave due to Covid. Health protocols are maintained. In addition, comments are heard about a 3rd wave. Peru has been one of the worst hit countries in Latin America. 199.000 deaths from Covid. 2.16 Million positive cases. The businesses were closed, but today, little by little, the economic activities are beginning. Vaccination is slow, but continues to advance at a safe pace. There are 8.5 Million people already immunized with the full dose. There is still a long way to go, we are 30 Million. Read more

Seeing a divided society due to the crisis

Unable to travel home to my family, I moved in with my girlfriend and spent most of my quarantine with her. My work was essential, so I had to do it in person. When working in a construction company, as soon as the pandemic began, I was relocated to direct the expansion of a hospital. My work intensified because I had to fill the face-to-face functions of those who were considered at risk, monitor the implementation of the new protocols, and the trip to work was stressful. There were strict traffic controls, which generated traffic jams of several hours. Read more

When you can’t believe that there are people who don’t believe in vaccines

Argentina was in a hard quarantine for almost seven months. At the beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of fear and uncertainty because little was known about the virus. The atmosphere was tense, nobody wanted to be infected. On a social level, people little by little lost their fear and are aware of respecting the minimum care in order to return to pseudo-normality. Now the progress of the vaccination gives me hope. I can’t believe there are people who don’t believe in vaccines. Read more

When you work with Corona samples and learn a lot about the virus

Due to the lockdown, I missed the final semester of my bacholer degree and the things that should have come with it, for example my graduation and my final days with my university friends. I also missed the opportunity to celebrate my grandmothers 100th birthday due to restrictions. At the start of the pandemic I moved to university online, now I am working a normal 40 hours a week in the office/ lab and if necessary I can work from home. Getting infected has always been a concern of mine, especially when I began my new job that required me to work with Corona samples. Read more

Having lost one of your best friends to Covid

Last months as much as last year and the half were very hard. Thousands of citizens lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Our government was very unprepared for a pandemic so they kind of managed the situation for the first wave, but after that, with lots of political problems between government and opposition sides, situation started to get very ugly. We still don’t have enough beds in hospitals, not enough staff. The government is doing nothing for vaccine popularisation. I know lots of people who were/are infected with Covid. In February 2021, I lost one of my bests friends to Covid. Read more