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The crisis that we are living through Covid-19, provides us with many basic benefits every day. When the pandemic started, most people were frustrated and had a bad time because we had to be at home all day, but this has helped us to value the simple things in life. We are living in a very difficult time, but we can appreciate the different benefits that we are receiving. The most important benefit from my point of view has occurred in nature. Right now, the air we breathe is much cleaner, and the emission of gases has been reduced, which greatly favors climate change. I live in the center of Barcelona, and I have seen a big change, now that you are allowed to go outside I can enjoy cleaner oxygen when I go out for a walk. On the other hand, we can see how animals are beginning to come into city streets, for example, wild boars in Barcelona or monkeys in Thailand.

Also, at this time we value things that we did not value before, such as being able to attend to classes in person, buy clothes, eat out in restaurants, go to the cinema, travel, and be able to go outside with freedom ... but on the other hand, all this has taught us to enjoy the simplest things in life like  sunbathing on the terrace, spending more time with the people we love, going out into the street, etc….

In my opinion, when this is all over, people will have learned to value everything that this life offers us, and on the other hand to respect all the jobs that exist, from a seller in a supermarket to a doctor. Next, I put a link to a very interesting video that I found because it explains the benefits of nature in different countries at the time of covid-19.

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Coronavirus: Good for the environment? | Covid-19 Special

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What really matters (Rosa M. Montserrat)

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What really matters (Rosa M. Montserrat)

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It’s raining. Today would be one of those days when you feel like staying at home, and it’s okay because now we musn’t go out.

I miss walking on the street. I miss buying something in a small shop. I miss going to swim. I miss my friends. And I miss you.

It’s a terrible situation, although I see a lot of positive things. I see solidarity, empathy, responsibility, greatfulness, generosity… I know that the world now is better than two months ago. There is less pollution, the air is so clean… These positive aspects have already been well explained by my classmates.

I would like to abord a specific aspect related to the confined children and the school year. There are people who think that children will miss the school year and I ask myself: What happens if the students don’t learn somethings about maths but they learn how to cook with their parents instead? What happens if they don’t know anything about grammar but they spend time talking with their grandparents?

I think they won’t miss a school year, they will have a better future!

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It's incredibly easy for me to talk about the benefits of the COVID19, because I'm not working in a hospital, medical center, mortuary, ambulances... I'm at home enjoying this great free time like a child without his parents at home!

Secondly, I apreciate the lack of noise we have in town, it's really hard to believe how quiet it is!

Also I spend more time talking with my family and friends.

Talking about the direct benefits to the world, this lockdown has considerably reduced the level of pollution in the air and on the ocean. That benefits natural reforestation, animal repopulation (both aquatic and land ones) and decreasing global warming.

In my personal opinion this is a test for humanity, and it's the perfect moment to make changes in our life style:

Creating new levels of comunication between countries and medical institutions.

Creating new protocols to detect, isolate, protect and share information about the next pandemias, as soon as posible.

Thinking as if we were only one country in the world.

Promoting volunteering work, something that is actually happening nowadays.

I hope everyone is fine and that we can see each other soon!

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We’ve been locked down for over 10 days and despite the inconvenience this might bring I do firmly believe that there are many lessons we can learn. And many beneficial consequences it might bring on us all. I’d like to focus on the unintended benefits is bringing for the planet: blue skies!

The reduction in emissions caused by the closure of factories or the empty streets have lowered the levels of pollution more dramatically than ever before. Crystal clear waters in Venice; dolphins bordering our cities; and on a modest scale, I can hear birds singing right in the middle of the Eixample!

This probably gives us a clue so as to what to do in the future. If with brave decisions taken practically overnight we have been able to get this far what couldn’t be achieved after a careful process of global planning.

This crisis is showing us the path to follow so let’s make the most of the chance we’re given. If we want, we certainly can.

Look at the video where we can see examples of what I mean!

I miss you all!

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Clearer water, cleaner air: The environmental effects of coronavirus

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(Montse)
Looking on the bright side is difficult when most of us have a loved one affected by coronavirus, but maybe, the simple act of thinking about it can be a positive aspect.

These days we have the chance to live with our families, spending our “valuable” time with them in a physical space instead of virtual. Talking about our feelings and worries, reading, playing all together, renewing contacts with friends speaking on the telephone, not only resending WhatsApp’s … Things that we had forgotten how to do and didn’t appreciate enough.

We are witnessing a lot of samples of solidarity, charity and collective effort. We take this opportunity to teach our children some human values, to appreciate doctors, nurses and all these people who had sacrificed his health to take care of the vulnerable population, as the real heroes, not football players or models who earn a lot of money.

We are becoming aware of how some of the drastic measures taken, for example, closure of factories, cancelled flights, …  can help improve global warming.

If we are able to transmit our children these values, I think we will do a better society that can save our planet, because today’s children are the future of humanity and they will make a better world to live in.

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After being locked down for some weeks I have found some benefits for me. Most of you are thinking that I am being so selfish for thinking only about me and certainly you are absolutely right.

Unfortunately, solidarity is temporary as usual. Nowadays, I have seen some examples about awful human behavior like disagreements between governments during the pandemic or the selfish behavior from the customers  who went to the supermarket at the beginning of the quarantine.

I would like to say that this pandemic will help us to improve as society but definitely I have never believed in human goodness.

My own point of view is that when the virus finally disappears, most likely, no one will remember anything about those workers, cleaning staff, nurses, supermarket cashiers or about public healthcare workers.

Nevertheless, I can find at least a common good point coming from the virus: it is good to our environment.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I firmly think that it is a good time for me. In spite of working I have got rid of some daily routines like going to the gym or keeping my weight under control. In my case, this virus has forced me to stop my stressful way of life.

This quarantine shows me an easier and quieter life. The comfort of being in your sofa without pressure about time is a life pleasure.

After this is all over I would love to see more examples of solidarity, generosity of spirit and action.

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I think that this situation can bring some benefits for us, but all we know now is that what is happening now is not a good thing. However, seeing it in the most positive way, one of the benefits that we will have is that when it’s all over we could appreciate everyday things.

We could value going to class, going shopping and give hugs to our family or friends, also to go on a trip wherever and whenever we want. Now we can't. What’s more, we are used to having a public health service and normally we don’t see that in many countries they haven’t got one. We are very lucky in that aspect.

Also we are very fortunate because in the period of time that we are living there are so many scientific advantages that help us find a solution, like a vaccine. I hope it will be soon. And we have things that in other times hadn't been invented or discovered.

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Apart from the obvious positive effects, such as lower pollution levels, more relationships with family and friends, solidarity of young people with the ederly, free collaboration of catering businesses with hospitals, etc. I think a very positive aspect might be  that this situation of isolation , with the consequent moments of loneliness, should lead us to be more aware and pay attention to ourselves and the world.

We live in an opulent world and believe we can control everything. Money and technological advances seem to us capable of to solving everything. But now it turns out that a virus, a tiny thing, that we cannot see, hear or touch, changes all the foundations of our life. Hopefully  this will make us aware of our fragility as human beings and enable us to value the really important things in life.

But above all it would be important that when all this has finished, which I hope will be soon, and we get back into the frenetic rhytm of everyday life, we do no forget.

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“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

A couple of days ago a good friend of mine sent me this poem, probably some of you know it because it became viral very quickly, not just for the meaning but because somebody invented a fake story stating that the poem had been written in 1800 during the black plague.
In fact the poem was written by Kitty O’Meary a 65 year-old American writer two weeks ago.
Despite the fake and useless story I think the poem is very good in this unusual time which we are living nowadays.

The poem invites us to take time and make use of it as a gift.
It invites us to find those things we can do alone or with very small groups of people.
It invites us to discover reativity, the capacity to listen, and the opportunity to look after our beloved ones.
It invites us to stop and look around you and your family, your work, your desires, your dreams.

According to the poem, this difficult time gives people the opportunity to get in touch with their interior desires.
We are aware of how fragile our world is and how easily it can be destroyed.
All of this can be helpful to rebuild a new society which is less selfish, more open minded and healthier than that which we had built until now.

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The situation we are living through for me has pros and cons, the pros are that now I am making more money but the cons are that every day I expose myself to catching the virus and a high stress situation for me.The first time I heard news about the coronavirus was something I saw very far away, which was another of the many problems that the Chinese community had had because of the overpopulation in that country.

In the months when I saw again in the news that there was a case in Germany I could not believe it, I even laughed at it because for me it was not believable.

Spanish population began to be alarmed and I really started to worry when in the supermarket where I work I was asked to work more hours as there were masses of people shopping and our workers could not cope with everything.

That situation for me had pros and cons, the pros were that now I am making more money but the cons are that every day I expose myself to contracting the virus and a high stress situation for me.

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The covid-19 is a misfortune that has come to us in order to stay, but despite the pain it’s causing, there are some aspects that will have a positive impact on our society.

One of them is the possibility of spending more time with our children. Yes, I know that children can be very exhausting, but if we look for the positive side and make the most of it to enjoy their company, it will be a gift that we can never forget.

In my case, for example, we're cooking together, we joke together until we burst out laughing, and we even go for a run together. Yes, we are lucky enough to live in a house with a little bit of land that allows us to even run. These days, when most people can only go out on a balcony to breathe fresh air, we can exercise outdoors and even sunbathe - on days when it doesn't rain, of course.

In short, from Monday to Thursday I’m spending some very pleasant days with my children. Then they go off with their father and I miss them, but I'm glad I had the chance to share all those experiences with them.

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Simple things are the best (Sonia Morales)

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Simple things are the best (Sonia Morales)

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For me the most positive thing in this complicate situation is learning to give more value to the simple things.
A walk on the beach, watching a sunset with your patner, having a coffee on a terrace with your friends or practice outdoor sports are simple things that don't cost money but are essential in life and I miss them with all my heart.
We live in a materialistic world that goes too fast and in my opinion we are spending far too much time shopping in stores or using our mobile than appreciating what really matters which are the simple things.
For me that is the lesson right now.
I'm looking forward to do those things as soon as possible and share more quality moments with family and friends.

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It’s difficult to find positive effects of Covid-19 when a lot of people are dying and suffering.

Though we can see how pollution is decreasing (of course, that is good for the environmemt) or how people help each other.

On the other hand we can also see how politicians argue and don't work united or how many people take advantage of the tragedy.

When all this finishes I wonder, if everything will be the same as before. People forget and never learn. I wish I was wrong..

Fortunately, there are always some little things that make you smile and feel happy.

This is the case of “stay homas” It’s a new musical group born from the lockdown.

They are 3 friends , they live together and they decided to sing about how they are spending their time and what we have to do these days staying at home, transmiting a message of good vibes and civic awareness.

They are sharing and singing their songs in their house’s rooftop in Barcelona and uploading them in the social networks like Instagram or You Tube.

They are managing to make us feel better for a few minutes. They are working for us, they are composing new songs for us. I’m happy for the success of this group, because thanks to coronavirus “Stay homas” will have its reward.

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Two days ago during lunch, my daughter asked me if we had lived a situation like this in another moment of our life. “These days are unique in our life”, I answered her. Two months ago, none of us would have thought about this critical situation. Fortunately, the human being has a big capacity to find the positive things even in the hardest circumstance. We should live these days as an opportunity too.

Perhaps it is the moment to stop and think about how we have arrived at this point. This situation makes us see how we are very related to each other; this is the reason why we need to find a global solution. These current events involve all citizens in each country and at the same time all countries. This new pandemic has canceled the borders and shows us the real condition of our planet as our common house.

We must work all together to change our present life modus.  We need to seriously take measures to transform our relationship with nature and to strengthen our public health systems.

All of us are in the “same boat”, we need to act in a unique way, with global environmental and social solutions. Without a doubt we are in front of a great opportunity to make a better life, but for all together.

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It's one of many infectious diseases usually confined to wildlife that have spilled over to people in areas undergoing rapid forest clearing. Over the past two decades, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that deforestation, by triggering a complex cascade of events, creates the conditions for a range of deadly pathogens-such as Nipah and Lassa viruses, and the parasites that cause malaria and Lyme disease-to spread to people.

(Humans are clearing forests on a massive scale, mostly for farming. Learn more about deforestation.)

"It's pretty well established that deforestation can be a strong driver of infectious disease transmission," says Andy MacDonald, a disease ecologist at the Earth Research Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "It's a numbers game: The more we degrade and clear forest habitats, the more likely it is that we're going to find ourselves in these situations where epidemics of infectious diseases occur."

Malaria-which kills over a million annually due to infection by Plasmodium parasites transmitted by mosquitoes-has long been suspected of going hand in hand with deforestation. In Brazil, while control efforts have dramatically reduced malaria transmission in the past-bringing 6 million cases a year in the 1940s down to just 50,000 by the 1960s-cases have since been steadily rising again in parallel with rapid forest clearing and expansion of agriculture. At the turn of the century, there were over 600,000 cases a year in the Amazon basin.

Work in the late 1990s by Amy Vittor, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida's Emerging Pathogens Institute, and others, suggested a reason why. Clearing patches of forest appears to create ideal habitat along forest edges for the mosquito Anopheles darlingi -the most important transmitter of malaria in the Amazon-to breed. Through careful surveys in the Peruvian Amazon, she found higher numbers of larvae in warm, partially shaded pools, the kind that form beside roads cut into forests and puddles behind debris where water is no longer taken up by trees.

"Those were the [places] that Anopheles darlingi really enjoyed being," Vittor recalls.

In a complex analysis of satellite and health data published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MacDonald and Stanford University's Erin Mordecai reported a significant impact of deforestation across the Amazon basin on malaria transmission, in line with some previous research.

Between 2003 and 2015, on average, they estimated that a 10 percent yearly increase in forest loss led to a 3 percent rise in malaria cases. For example, in one year of the study, an additional 618-square-mile (1,600-square-kilometer) patch of cleared forest-the equivalent of nearly 300,000 football fields-was linked to an additional 10,000 cases of malaria. This effect was most pronounced in the interior of the forest, where some patches of forest are still intact, providing the moist edge habitat that the mosquitoes like.

"I am concerned about what's going to happen with transmission following the end of the fires," MacDonald says.

Many viruses exist harmlessly with their host animals in forests, because the animals have co-evolved with them. But humans can become unwitting hosts for pathogens when they venture into or change forest habitat.

"We are completely changing the structure of the forest," notes Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio, a disease ecologist at Ecohealth Alliance.

Diseases can also occur when new habitats draw disease-carrying species out of the forest.

Virus-carrying rodents have also been spotted in deforested areas in Panama, Bolivia, and in Brazil. Alfonso Rodriguez-Morales, a medical researcher and tropical disease expert at Colombia's Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, fears that their ranges will increase following the resurgence of fires in the Amazon this year.

Such processes aren't limited to tropical diseases. Some of MacDonald's research has revealed a curious association between deforestation and Lyme disease in the Northeastern United States.

Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease-is transmitted by ticks that rely on forest-dwelling deer to breed and obtain enough blood to survive. However, the bacterium is also found in the white-footed mouse, which happens to thrive in forests fragmented by human settlements, MacDonald says.

Zambrana-Torrelio notes that the likelihood of spillovers to people may increase as the climate warms, pushing animals, along with the viruses they carry, into regions where they've never existed before, he says.

Whether such diseases stay confined to forest fringes or if they gain their own foothold in people, unleashing a potential pandemic, depends on their transmission, Vittor says. Some viruses, like Ebola or Nipah, can be transmitted directly between people, theoretically allowing them to travel around the world as long as there are humans.

Zika virus, which was discovered in Ugandan forests in the 20 th century, could only cruise the world and infect millions because it found a host in Aedes aegpti, a mosquito that thrives in urban areas.

"I'd hate to think that another or several other pathogens could do such a thing, but it'd be foolish not to think of that as a possibility to prepare for," says Vittor.

Ecohealth Alliance researchers have proposed that containing diseases could be considered a new ecosystem service, that is, a benefit that humans freely gain from natural ecosystems, just like carbon storage and pollination.

To make that case, their team has been working in Malaysian Borneo to itemize the exact cost of malaria, down to each hospital bed, and syringe that doctors use. On average, they found that the Malaysian government spends around $5,000 to treat each new malaria patient in the region-in some areas much more than they spend on malaria control, Zambrana-Torrelio says.

Over time, that adds up, outweighing the profits that could be gained by cutting forests down and making a compelling financial argument to leave some forests standing, Daszak says.

He and his colleagues are beginning work with the Malaysian government to incorporate this into land use planning, and are undertaking a similar project with Liberian officials to calculate the cost of Lassa fever outbreaks there.

MacDonald sees value in this idea: "If we can conserve the environment, then perhaps we can also protect health," he says. "That I think is the silver lining that we should keep in mind."

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Deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans

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It's one of many infectious diseases usually confined to wildlife that have spilled over to people in areas undergoing rapid forest clearing. Over the past two decades, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that deforestation, by triggering a complex cascade of events, creates the conditions for a range of deadly pathogens-such as Nipah and Lassa viruses, and the parasites that cause malaria and Lyme disease-to spread to people.

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In my article I am going to present several topics that are linked to the current events that we are experiencing with COVID-19. Issues, such as the reduction of carbon dioxide, which has helped to slightly recover the ozone layer. Also, I might even say in the first person, that I feel the cleanest and freshest air lately.

Another issue that is linked to the situation we are currently experiencing is that some of the technological companies in favour of science, which for a long time considered themselves "Powerful", are receiving a lesson in humility, because apparently they have been unable to keep up with viral mutations of a biological nature. In addition to that, governments around the world also realized that the public health system has been underrated for many years. reducing the budget allocated to it, even trying to privatize the public health system.

On the other hand, COVID-19 is also affecting us, not only physically, but also mentally. Affecting our feelings, feelings like being more stressed, more anxious, and sometimes sadness, and so on. But the worst feeling is fear, which is spreading across the world more than COVID-19 itself. However, I would like to rescue certain positive aspects. This period reminds us that we are not so different from each other, that there are no borders, ethnic groups or religious beliefs, amongst others. We are aware now that we are all the same. And that in a situation like this, solidarity is our best weapon to face our problems.

To conclude, this situation invites us to change our way of thinking a little bit. Make a stop and see how we are feeling spiritually and emotionally. Maybe, we have to start to appreciate something as simple as taking a little walk down the street, enjoying a sunny day, walking on the grass without shoes, etc. To a certain extent, the COVID-19 has forced us to spend more time with our families and friends through video calls. But this is not the way we like the most, like, hugging and touching and feeling the real. Before this situation happened, we excused ourselves for not having enough time to share with friends and family. I hope that when everything finishes each of us will find an improved version of themselves.

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5 Ways to Manage Coronavirus Anxiety - COVID-19

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SOLIDARITY

We have been locked down for over two weeks and and I think that it is an awful situation. Nevertheless, I would focus on some positive aspects that we can get from it,  for example a new solidarity between people, institutions, organizations and companies around the world.

We know that there are groups of young people in every neighborhood which have organised themselves to help the elderly who can´t go out from home, so they need somebody  to do the shopping for them.

There are also some people making masks in their houses to give them  to those who need them.

In zona Franca , a company has changed its production to make repirators for hospitals.

We can read in the newspaper or hear on TV many exemples of good people who open their house to  host immigrants who are in the street or children whose parents are in quarentine.

I wish this solidarity would continue when the pandemia has happened.

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The coronavirus crisis is an opportunity to think about the human activities and their effects on global health, including the health of the Earth. It might be time to face deep changes in our habits. Many people are already living in a different way now, but most of them think that it is temporary. I think that it will be longer that we can imagine now, so we must get used to it. In any case, it won't be the same. The economical measures the government has taken are meant to avoid a deep change in our economical system, but I'd like to think that people are aware of the opportunity we have now. We can't go back to the same system we had before the coronavirus crisis, and as a consequence, to the same pollution levels. We should be more intelligent and keep the air clean.

The biggest cities have needed less than two weeks to improve the condition of their air, as a result of decreasing travelling and industrial activities. As a consequence, we could also have noticed a better quality of the air in Barcelona. We have even seen some wild pigs in Diagonal too. From my point of view, the planet needed the humans to stop (or to slow down) their activities as much as we did. This is our opportunity to build a world with no nitrogen dioxide emissions in order to prevent some health issues and natural disasters. Furthermore, it is true that our lifestyle was really sick, we have been destroying the planet, overproducing and getting profit at the expense of the work of others. I hope we have still enough time to fix that.

It's a pity that nothing was done before to avoid this situation, so now it's time to see if most of our activities, like shopping and travelling are really necessary things. We could do a lot of things differently. And if Seat, a Spanish car manufacturing company, is making respirators because it is better business now, we can also adapt all our needs to live in a better world. It depends on us. To sum up, it's time to change.

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The COVID-19 upside: Pollution levels dip in lockdown areas

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Learning!

I think that the question is: Are we learning anything from this epidemic?

I felt sad during these days when listening to some politicians on TV or on the radio speaking about COVID-19. In my opinion most of them don’t realize what is happening and it seems, that when this epidemic is finished, everything will stay the same.

On the other hand, a few days ago, I listened to Alanna Shaikh, global health expert, talking about this coronavirus, COVID-19 and what it can teach us about the new epidemics yet to come. The most important thing we must do is improving our health care system, here and everywhere in the world and moreover we must improve the educational system.

We’ll have difficult moments when this epidemic finishes and we’ll need solidarity, cooperation, sorority, collaboration, respect and we must work together very hard. In my opinion, the effect of collective action is the possibility to achieve a better world!

A recommendation: a book!

Podries, is a book written by Joana Raspall and illustrated by Ignasi Blanch. It is a wonderful book where the poetry invites us to solidarity, empathy and it explains to us how people have the same needs and the same feelings.

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In these difficult moments, when discipline is needed all over the world and everyone gets frightened and concerned, there are plenty of problems that could bring us horrible consequences for health, economy, employment and more stuff. But there are also positive consequences that are brought by this crisis.
Nobody can deny the reductions of pollution levels because of drastic decreasing traffic and industrial activity. Everybody has seen how clean the Venice canals are. People who live in a big city can hear the silence on the streets: it's a pity we can't walk around!
Although we can't socialize with relatives and friends (I really miss my children and my granddaughters), we can see many people helping disabled or elderly people, making hand-made masks to give them to hospitals and geriatric residences. Everybody shows their solidarity to people who work in hospitals, in an amazing way. And also we can talk about neighbours singing, playing music from their balconies, or singing "happy birthday" to an old lady who lives alone.
Maybe there's another good thing, but I don't know if it will remain in the future: this virus has forced us to stop our stressful way of life. That tells us: Yes, we can!
Will we learn anything from this crisis?