Russia is gradually lifting its coronavirus restrictions. Similar steps were taken in many other countries amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Now, these countries are restoring their economic and political lives. The portal: "The Future of Russia. National Projects", operated by TASS already wrote about the digitalization and online services that help people cope with the situation, have a normal life, conduct teleworking, as well as how new technologies are adapting to the new reality. This time, we will find out how the coronavirus pandemic changed everyday lives in other countries. Here are quarantine stories from cities around the world, and the role of technologies and self-awareness.
DISCLAIMER: The material was written before the George Floyd protests in the United States and does not take into account their impact.
Los Angeles, US
Maria Kovel-Burton, digital market specialist
During the quarantine, we started using the DoorDash application very frequently. It is one of the most popular services for food delivery from restaurants. A lot of people use Postmates and Uber Eats. All of those applications were popular before the quarantine, but now they are booming. We sometimes go to restaurants for takeout - almost all big restaurants and cafes, even small ones which are not part of any chain, offer both delivery and takeout. Sometimes we want to drive to a restaurant or a cafe, order everything there and unwind.
Since there are still big lines at major grocery stores in LA (Trader Joe’s, Ralphs), many people, including my husband’s family, use Instacart or Amazon Fresh for food delivery. My husband and I do not like ordering groceries online. There were several times when we made an order, filled the basket, and right at the end when approving the order it turned out there was no delivery time available. And even if the time was available, part of what we had chosen was already sold out. We use Amazon for ordering necessities, just like we did before the quarantine. We have an Amazon Prime subscription, it allows us to get delivery within three days, but amid the pandemic, Amazon is swamped with orders, and everything works slower.
We had no problem with teleworking. I work at digital marketing, and my husband is an ad producer for Apple. We work online all the time, so there were no difficulties there.
During self-isolation, we started watching streaming services like Netflix, HBO Go, Apple TV more actively, started watching more news on TV (CNN). We found time for reading as well; I discovered a cool application called Graspp: you highlight the word you don’t know with your finger, focus the camera on it, and the app gives you either a Russian translation or the word’s meaning in English at the same time.
In order to see family somehow and not violate the quarantine, we have to use unconventional methods, for instance, we communicate with my husband’s parents through the door and their house’s window. We celebrate holidays by ordering in or cooking dinner and Zooming.
We expect the quarantine measures to stay in force until August, however, parks and beaches are open already. Walks were never prohibited, but recently Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a decree according to which it is forbidden to leave the house without masks, even for ordinary walks.
Turin, Italy
Liza Lopayeva, data processing and analysis specialist
I live in Turin, it’s quite a big city, although the coronavirus pandemic has transformed the lives of small cities as well. For instance, there is an application in Milan which can track supermarket lines through user reviews. And the Wetaxi application, which is used for sharing a ride with random fellow passengers, created a package delivery service, and it works really fast. It is expensive, of course, but still cheaper than riding with your package alone.
Now, Italy is seeing a boom in electronic payments and wallets. We have a local Satispay service, and all small businesses, even market vendors, are already on it. The commission for them is way less than using a card, but for the client it’s just an electronic wallet, which is replenished once a week up to a certain budget. The government urges people not use cash, and this is the most convenient way not to pay a commission at a bar or bakery and not to touch coins.
As for food delivery from restaurants, in Italy there are two types: aggregator applications with delivery personnel (Glovo, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Eatwith - the last two exclusively Italian) and a restaurant’s own delivery (usually the menu is posted on social networks, and orders are taken via phone and WhatsApp). Amid the pandemic, many had to become more active on social networks and update their websites. But Italy would not be Italy if Italians did not want to eat the delicious food that they are used to, even if it is unavailable in the store around the corner. Thus, residents began to call the stores where they used to go shopping for groceries, so that the latter would organize the delivery of their products around the city (and even flowers, plants, books and everything else that was allowed). This is a slow process, because the owners did everything on their own and monitored the quality of the products. Because of this, for example, before Easter it was necessary to order everything in advance, at least 7-10 days.
Food delivery in Italy was not that common before. Italians ordered little, and in stock. During the quarantine, everyone went into overdrive so that the delivery of supermarkets overflowed. People filled their baskets with products, and then waited for midnight to get hold of delivery time. We went to the supermarket once every couple of weeks and we tried to buy meat, wine, gastronomy from local stores to support their business. In Turin, the union of local manufacturers quickly drew a map and a list of those who have delivery service. They wrote about it in the newspaper and asked everyone to support the locals.
Of course, it is a difficult time for the expensive Michelin-starred restaurants. Some of them closed for the quarantine and began to publish simple recipes with secrets from the chef on social networks, while others started new projects. For instance, our friends arranged the delivery of a menu, which one must prepare themselves. The prices are half that on the restaurant’s menu, and usually they deliver everything themselves to monitor the quality of the products. Every evening, the chef broadcasts live from his kitchen, where, in addition to the recipe and the ready-made video, he goes into detail about how to make it. The toughest part with the products has already been accomplished, but still the cooking process happens to be very exciting, especially the part when it’s served. You realize what you pay for in a restaurant, and you are proud that you could do it by yourself. I also admire how well the menu is thought out. The time is measured in a way so that the client does not get tired of cooking, so that everything is consistent and doesn’t spoil the taste. At the same time, no one used any sophisticated technology. Large groups of people order such menus with their friends in order to cook and have dinner together via video chat.
What is more, in Turin, two Michelin chefs and their friends came up with a project. They cook a social lunch every two days (a vegetarian rice dish and a drink), which they sell only through Instagram. Lunch costs 6 euro with delivery, friends deliver, and the products are taken from sponsors. Thus, they earn money and every second day they serve 100-200 dishes for the poor.
The pandemic hit Italy hard. Many companies shut down and sent workers home on temporary unemployment benefits due to the suspension of their contracts or on vacation at their own expense for at least a few days a week. Italian bosses are very anxious. They want everyone back at the office, they didn't let some of my acquaintances switch to teleworking until the last minute, and now, with the measures being gradually lifted, they want everyone back as soon as possible. I work in an international company which has staff all over the world, so teleworking is a common thing for us. It even got better in terms of searching for new employees. Now, all the interviews are on Skype and no one is afraid of the request to work remotely a couple of days a week. But there are also disadvantages, the amount of work has even increased due to some confusion and problems with online communication.
At first, there were some problems with home-based Internet. The network “glitched” a couple of times or there was a bad signal, but now everything is very stable. That being said, I encounter Internet problems with colleagues from the United States, but not from Italy. At some point, the video games on the Playstation slowed down and there were problems with video calls on WhatsApp, they actually did not work. But in general, Italian networks have withstood the test.
Because of the lockdown, we had to find virtual entertainment at home. Like everyone else, we watched a lot of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and the recently launched Disney+ streaming service. We checked on our friends over the phone, arranged girls’ nights with an aperitif in Houseparty (an application for conducting group video broadcasts — TASS). We tried to go offline as well. We arranged live balcony parties with neighbors, celebrated birthdays and danced to the music on our neighbor’s sound system, which the entire neighborhood could hear.
In general, in Italy technologies that have taken root during the quarantine are not aimed at switching from personal to online communication and replacing existing services, but at expanding opportunities and new formats for food, services, and friends.
Auckland, NZ
Mark Pavlyukovskyy, serial entrepreneur in EdTech
As it happened, coronavirus caught up with me right during my decision to temporarily move from San Francisco to New Zealand. It all turned out fine. I managed to self-isolate in one of the most remote places in the world and do it all just before the country closed its borders. I arrived a day prior to that. All arrivals had to stay in quarantine for 2 weeks. I was staying in an Airbnb that I had booked ahead of time. No one was checking for self-isolation violations. However, I heard that the police sometimes came to do spot checks. You could go outside for groceries and walks. My experience with ordering groceries online was not quite successful. The system was overloaded because everyone was using it, so my groceries were never delivered. I could pick them up though, which I did. Anyway, there are a lot of Chinese food delivery services in New Zealand as there is a big Chinese community in the country, and the Chinese are used to such technologies.
At the same time, the Internet quality in the country depends on your location. In big cities there are no problems and there is high-speed Internet everywhere, but I noticed that in the early days of the quarantine, there were connection problems. Later, I moved to the countryside (in order to calmly go out for a walk without any crowds), to a house where there was no Internet at all. I had to use a mobile access point.
I am a serial entrepreneur, so working in different parts of the world is common for me. The move partly has to do with my decision to work elsewhere on my latest project - the Mochi Robot (Learn with Mochi) - which helps children learn programming skills. The project team is also working from different parts of the world, so nothing has changed in our schedule.
During the quarantine, the use of video calls (FaceTime) and audio calls, which enables us to communicate with family and friends, has certainly increased. But as for any entertainment services, I tried to limit their use, since it is very easy to plunge into the "black hole" of content, and getting out of it would be difficult. But I tried to read more books and learn to play sports at home. The latter did not pan out very well.
New Zealand’s quarantine was different because compared to other countries (the state of emergency was lifted on May 13, and there were recommendations on social distancing — TASS) it didn’t last very long. Therefore, now, for example, restaurants receive guests, but provide social distancing between them; in cafes everyone prefers takeout. It seems as if nothing has changed that much.
New York, US
Daniela Paiewonsky, script supervisor
When the pandemic began, I lost all of my sources of income. I work as a script-supervisor, which means that I have a wide range of tasks and I am a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of a motion picture and its script. None of the work I usually do could be done remotely. Thanks to the CARES Act (about $600 per week plus additional payments depending on the state — TASS), I’ve been able to stay afloat. Even though I’m always on the lookout for potential job opportunities, I am also taking this time to learn and do so many activities that I’ve been putting off for years.
For instance, I went live on Instagram every Tuesday which was a way for me to reach out to friends and family back home in the Dominican Republic and encourage them to share their small triumphs and any activities that are keeping them happy and sane, to share recipes and discuss movies or sing a song. It was also an excuse for me to come out of my shell, try something new and hold myself accountable by being consistent and showing up, even if my guests bailed on me at the last minute, and even if I felt unmotivated and uninspired. I noticed that every new show is getting better and better, and I feel more confident.
I have definitely learned new skills during quarantine. Cooking has been a major one; I am so used to either eating out or having my meals on set while working that I never felt like sparing a second more than needed in the kitchen. That is why I hardly ever used delivery services during the lockdown. I picked up food at the restaurant when I needed. I have definitely taken advantage of online platforms such as MasterClass, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera and Udemy, which have an extensive list of free online courses. Currently, I’m doing a software engineering basics course. I have also practiced makeup much more than I used to when I was still working, and I have also started a meditation practice.
During lockdown, I watched movies and TV shows on streaming platforms (Netflix, Prime, Hulu) but not much more than I used to, which was not very often. I’ve been using YouTube more frequently than before, and have even considered making my own YouTube channel to talk about films and TV, cooking recipes and books. I read a lot during self-isolation, mostly electronic books on Kindle and in the SimplyE and Libby online libraries where you can get a free version of books and audio books.
New York is struggling with the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus. Many businesses in New York either closed down temporarily or shut down for good, but there are also businesses that try to survive despite the odds. Around my neighborhood, for instance, I can think of several restaurants that decided to stay open with deliveries and takeouts only, also most small shops and quite a few bars and liquor stores that never really closed. Just two weeks ago, two of my favorite restaurants and the local hardware store around the corner reopened as well. This gives me hope that soon we’ll be able to get back to normal again.