It’s Monday, and I’m sure you could use a little pick-me-up amidst the chaos of the coronavirus.

With more and more cities opting to put travel bans into place and shut down businesses and schools, many are finding heartwarming ways to spread compassion and solidarity.

Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, shut down Italy after coronavirus cases increased at an alarming rate. Pharmacies, banks and grocery stores now remain the only places open to the public.

For Italy, a country with a rich history of music, singing has kept citizens connected.

According to The Guardian, Italians who have been quarantined in their homes recently took to balconies and windows to join each other in harmony.

Videos have been shared showing quarantined Italians singing patriotic songs such as ‘Canto della Verbena’ (‘And While Siena Sleeps’) and the Italian national anthem, as well as the comforting pop track ‘Abbracciame’ (‘Hug me’) by artist Andrea Sannino.

Listen:

Other forms of solidarity have also arisen out of the pandemic:

“Millions of children have been stuck at home because their schools and nurseries have closed, and many have started leaving hand-drawn notes in their neighbourhoods, bearing the Italian equivalent to the Cantonese phrase jiayou, translating into “don’t give up” or “hang on in there”, that has been used frequently in Wuhan since the outbreak began”.

On top of this, Italian citizens have been reassuring each other with the message ‘Andrà tutto bene’, which translates into the simple yet powerful, “everything will be all right”.

While the COVID-19 outbreak has shown us some of the worst that humanity has to offer – the ‘coronacapitalists’ are a good example of this – it has also shown us that with a bit of camaraderie, we can get through anything.

Italy,  jiayou!

[source:theguardian]