Bristolians are self-organising a phenomenal coronavirus fight back in ways that will outlast pandemic

In India, citizen-led small-scale digital efforts are helping to connect Covid-19 patients with the resources, supplies, and medical equipment they need to survive. The citizen groups are largely using online platforms to crowdsource what they need, with some matching buyers and sellers and others "debunking inaccurate leads."

During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, volunteers across Belarus worked together to collect and deliver personal protective equipment to frontline workers, despite the Belarusian government denying the spread of the coronavirus. Using social media to organize, the volunteers "served as a kind of SWAT team able to bypass the bureaucracy to obtain the necessary equipment."

Communities in Nigeria have been using WhatsApp to manage isolation and help provide support to their fellow residents during the coronavirus pandemic. In many instances organizations and individuals are helping to raise and provide funds to those who are experiencing financial hardship.

Mutual aid at the grassroots level is about helping a neighbor in need, and this strategy has been spurred into action across the country in response to COVID-19. In Detroit, people rally across social media and technology to connect those in need with those looking to help. For those without social media, mutual aid forms are available online for residents to apply for help from community members in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and more. They provide services such as picking up groceries and medicine, childcare, or monetary donations.

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.

Those over the age of 65 have been instructed to stay at home as much as possible during the coronavirus pandemic, so younger adults are coming together across the nation to help deliver this population essentials. Between Facebook, Nextdoor, and basic spreadsheets, communities are finding ways to provide mutual aid by connecting lower-risk neighbors with their more at-risk neighbors.

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.

Anticipating an overwhelmed government, community members throughout southern California took the initiative to fill the gap and help their neighbors during the coronavirus outbreak. Mobilizing via websites, social media, and bilingual printed fliers, volunteers are helping "with grocery runs, meals, pharmacy pickups, check-in calls and other errands."

Wiltshire villagers are coordinating to each volunteer their specific skill set to help people during the quarantine. A parish councilor divided the village into 18 parts and designated 33 volunteers to each region to stay in close touch with those who are self-isolating and who need support. Volunteers from a range of ages and careers have come forward to contribute a range of services, including finding tactics to combat boredom during social isolation— kettlebell workouts over a video call.

Accredited social health activists (ASHA) across India fight COVID-19 related misinformation on WhatsApp. ASHAs provide basic health care to people in their villages, which puts them on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients and educating people to dispel the many myths about the virus and its treatments. ASHAs' local interactions often identify prevailing myths, which they quickly dispel in their face-to-face exchanges and by posting in the many local WhatsApp groups that have been created. The local groups have been an effective mode of educating people and helped ASHAs gain villagers’ trust.