The coronavirus epidemic keeps on growing in France, and while the entire country is confined, life is highly impacted. The medical staff waits for the oh-so feared wave of cases while in the streets, measures are growing harsher by the day to make sure everyone is respecting the confinement regulations. Facing this health crisis, major companies have been working to help the medical staff, as well as stores jeopardized by the epidemic and the threat of the economic crisis.
Some French confined at home may wonder how they could help at their scale. The first answer has become the current’s motto: “Stay at home, it has never been this easy to save lives” popularized by a poster designer by illustrator Mathieu Persan.
Help the most vulnerable
But can you do more? If so, how? First of all, if you have elderly or fragile people around you, you can for instance do their grocery shopping and help them limit their contacts outside. Call them, have their groceries delivered to their doors or bring them yourself and make sure you keep as maximum distance as possible. To do so, wash your hands regularly, use disposable gloves and drop the groceries at their door. Some neighborhoods also have adopted the red cloth system.
In the same spirit, you can still offer to help on leboncoin, a website providing classified ads, with their initiative #lebongeste. The principle? Create an ad in the “prestations de service ou cours particuliers” [service delivery or private lesson] to voluntarily give a hand (in a figurative sense, of course) to the people around you: grocery shopping or pharmacy shopping, private lessons, homework assistance from afar or even walking pets, this is the kind of help you can bring providing you respect the health recommendations.
In order to fight against solitude, remotely, Paris en compagnie invites you to call elderly people and keep them company.
Support the medical staff
As for the medical staff, you can also help them. The Institut Pasteur has for instance launched a call for donations to help finance the research on the novel coronavirus. Note that giving your blood is also a valid reason to go out during this confinement period. Calls for blood have also been launched to enable the Etablissement Français du Sang [French Blood Agency] to keep a stock enough to cover the country’s needs. Yet, for each outing, we encourage you to take precautions. Ecotable also offers to give 500 meals a day to the health staff and launches a call for donations to help this initiative.
Help pets
As for pets, while associations fear an increase of abandonments during the coronavirus epidemic, Mon Bibou provides a free care system for pets. Health caregivers, fragile people and those hospitalized can ask this network to make sure their pets will be taken care of while away. You can also become a “sitter” or donate money to support this initiative.
