I've seen lockdowns in 3 countries. Three illustrations to help you stay positive

By TygroArt | ImpactfulArt | 8 Apr 2020

I'm Chinese. My family lives in Wuhan, the city were it all started, and they've been in lockdown for months.

I live in Italy, where this new virus forced the government to take unprecedented measures to restrict people's freedom.

And my husband (giorgiob on here) is stuck in Scotland due to shortage of flights and new restrictive rules.

China, Italy, Scotland (UK): I've seen 3 countries react to lockdowns in different ways. But none of this ways is entirely positive.

Being inside our homes 24/7 increase depression rates, it makes us realize how much we need social interactions and how important work, social life and shopping is to our mental health.

Since I'm an illustrator, I face every issue by drawing. And that's what I did for this situation as well.

1) This nightmare will end thanks to doctors

Doctors, nurses and the entire health staff of hospitals make up the frontline of this war. A war between us and an invisible threat.

Never underestimate their work, and take a moment to be grateful to live in a modern country with a functional health system.

Science, knowledge, hard work and sacrifices are the only way to decrease new contagions day by day.

Italy decreased its new cases to 800 today, it was over 2000 daily last week.

China started to relieve some cities from the lockdown.

UK is starting to see a decline in cases as well.

This is not thanks to magic conspiracy theories like "the virus doesn't exist, it's the 5g! the enemy is the 5g!!11!!!1!". It's thanks to OUR sacrifice, doctors, nurses, paramedicals, surgeons, eccetera.

2) #StayHome even if you're young

This new coronavirus is very deadly for people over the age of 70 - but young people with no pre-existing symptoms died because of it too.

Sure, if you're 50 or younger, the risk of dying is very low. But can we stop thinking about ourselves only?

Kids and teenagers probably won't die from the virus, but they could transmit it to their grandpas, grandmas and parents.

As mentioned before, my husband is in Scotland. He should have came back the 25th of April. Obviously, we miss each other. But he's there with his dad, and we can't risk flying him from Edinburgh to London, from London to Rome, and from Rome to Turin.

Young people are privileged to be healthier than the elderly. And that's why they should take extreme precautions and care when moving around.

Quarantine and social distancing is not what we thought 2020 would look like. I know. But it's important to stay safe.

3) Learn something new

It's very rare to have so much free time nowadays.

Most people don't work anymore, they're on paid leave or they work from home. It's the PERFECT time to learn something new.

Read that book. Study that new thing. Learn how to code, cook, teach, speak, draw, sing, write. Do something useful with the time you have.

Use MOOC platforms like Coursera, edX or free Udemy Courses to expand your knowledge without paying a penny and, if you're into crypto, you can find a lot of free materials on publish0x... and you get paid to learn!