A Bookstore That Closed During the Pandemic Started a Literature Hotline. Now People Are Calling in for Life Advice.

Because of drastic and proactive steps, Taiwan has been able to keep their number of positive COVID19 cases low. Preemptive actions like stopping flights from China and an early stimulus bill has helped the country get ahead of the public health and economic impacts.

Milwaukee's nonprofits serving youth are finding new ways to check in and connect with their students as the coronavirus rules out the possibility for in-person afterschool programming. “Social distancing doesn’t mean social disconnection," the director of a community organization said. "We want to encourage youth to stay in touch with each other and with trusted adults."

At nursing homes in the Long Island area, facilities and their staff have stepped up to ensure residents can use technology to stay connected. They have facilitated performances over Zoom, local school-children send videos to say hello, and lectures and games have been made available online, as well.

Across the world, communities are beginning to use a variety of different methodologies to better connect with their neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic. From social media to public Google documents, neighborhoods are working together to combat loneliness during social distancing and help make sure the most vulnerable have the necessities.

As restaurants across the nation have been forced to close their doors during the coronavirus pandemic, some are turning to creative means to help account for the loss of revenue. In Philadelphia, restaurants have created a virtual tip jar to encourage patrons to "donate a tip" to a person or business while in San Francisco a restaurant owner has created a Facebook group that helps connect out of work servers with childcare jobs.

To help mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on some of its most vulnerable populations, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is paying otherwise closed restaurants to make food for short-staffed homeless shelters in the area.

The Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community near Lebanon, New Hampshire, is one of many senior-assisted living facilities that has rapidly responded to the spread of coronavirus. The staff has set up personal bingo tables that allow residents to sit six feet apart, taught seniors how to call their loved ones while they're quarantined, and engaged in more personalized activities to keep morale high.

Many supermarkets spend most days overcrowded and rapidly out of stock due to the coronavirus crisis, so the major grocery retailer in Australia designated the first hour of business to serving seniors and the disabled. Although there's no guarantee that all items will have been restocked, the dedicated time allows this at-risk population to have a better chance at obtaining the necessities.

People in Bend, Oregon have turned to social media in order to help at-risk community members during the coronavirus pandemic. Utilizing Facebook Groups to connect with one another, the moderators aim to conduct "acts of kindness that are most easily crowdsourced" such as picking up groceries or walking a neighbor's dog.

As governments order lockdowns of cities and countries due to coronavirus concerns, many people are at risk for experiencing mental health issues such as loneliness and anxiety. To combat this, people are turning to telemedicine for counseling consultations and to keep in touch with loved ones, as well as activities such as exercise to improve moods.