I am worried if killing the economies is worth it if we so laxly approach the support for the most affected populations? — Dawid, Poland

April 7th, 2020:

The economical lockdown around the world has resulted in an increase in violence, a lack of food supply, overloaded healthcare systems, and global panic response that will trigger mental health consequences long after the pandemic is over.

Experts agree that government policies need to balance overcoming both the health and economic crisis. In the short run, economic policies should mitigate the impact of lockdowns and ensure that the current crisis does not trigger financial, debt or currency crises. It should facilitate a quick recovery once the economy is taken out of the deep freeze. Currently, there are no solutions to this.

In order to help policymakers and governments to design data-driven response actions, we decided to run a Coronavirus Policy AI Challenge. More than 70 AI engineers and domain experts from leading organizations are currently finding answers to these questions.

In the meantime, we asked 14 Omdena Collaborators across 5 continents about their Covid19 experiences.

 

Fears, hopes, and expectations from 14 countries

 

Murindanyi Sudi, Uganda

 

 

The lockdown created fear and panic; The country is already in disaster. People cannot get to work or their business meaning they can no longer earn a living. The casual workers who survive on a daily wage also suffer. The government has promised food donations for vulnerable people who have lost their source of livelihood but have yet to fulfill. The cause has led to an increase in thievery and other sorts of violence for survival.

 

Aya Salma, Egypt

 

 

In Egypt, we had more than one uprisings in the past ten years. We have lived through periods of great angst, uncertainty, loss, and curfews. The feelings are not new although the challenge is different this time. Something that did change is that, as others mentioned, we are literally all in this together, this time around, against one invisible “enemy”. Also, during the uprisings we feared for the young, now we fear for the old.

 

Juan Pablo, Chile

 

 

The future is uncertain, however, Chileans are very supportive in times of crisis. Every 5/10 years we either have earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or various natural disasters typical of this narrow and long country. I have entered the world of artificial intelligence with the aim of incorporating it into inclusion projects, and I see no better time than now to start them. Hopefully, many people will work with others in mind, especially in underdeveloped countries.

 

Dev Bharti, UK

 

 

I feel our biggest challenge will be to try and restore balance in nature (not just talk) using innovative means, else nature will find ways such as this pandemic to balance things out. And it is crystal clear that this change needs to come bottom-up from people themselves, as the top-down approach has not worked!

 

Erum Afzal, Pakistan

 

 

Pakistan is suffering from fewer facilities in hospitals, poverty, illiteracy, and psychological depression. The situation is also increasing psychological stress. The media reports on increasing numbers of deaths, people not following government directions, and conditions of underserved communities.”

 

Sabina Meric, Portugal and Serbia

 

 

In Portugal, I like that people go out on their windows or balconies every night at 10 pm to clap to honor medical staff. But in my home country, Bosnia medical staff immigrated to Germany and other countries and the ones who stayed don’t have the equipment to work. A total failure of the health system.

 

Ilias Papadopoulos, Greece

 

During this time, governments are spending hundreds of million euros for redundant advertisements. So my question is, why do we spend so much money on this and don’t care about the vast amount of children dying because of the lack of food and medicines in Africa and other poor regions?

 

Nikhel Gupta, Australia

 

 

There are ample of selfish people who are clearing supermarkets through panic buying, and some who are purchasing guns and ammunition. We are witnessing an extreme level of racism and politics of blame game. What I’m worried about today is not the Covid-19 but how people react to it. Fear is more contagious than Covid-19 and only a united world can defeat them together.

 

Aboli Marathe, India

 

 

I see the domestic help, the construction workers, the vegetable sellers, the laborers who take a 100 rupees home a day, to feed their hungry kids and family. One person’s wage supports 6–10 people. What will they do now?”

 

Mikko Lähdeaho, Finland

 

 

Last weekend a few night clubs and restaurants were still open, but they are all closed now like all public places except markets. My area, Uusimaa, is restricted by police and military. Children go to school remotely and fortunately the Internet is working. I hope we’ll get over this soon and I wish you all strength.

 

Mahzad Khoshlessan, US/Iran

 

One of my big concerns is the economic situation and how the people especially international students like us will be affected by this situation. How this situation is going to affect the job market and hiring process is a concern of many people like me who are in their early career.

 

Ziyad Jappie, South Africa

 

 

I had a verbal confirmation about a job but then the COVID-19 came and I was told they cannot commit. This makes me worry about the possibility of getting jobs in the near future since almost a third of our population is unemployed. Apart from this, the direct effects it has on the people of the country are very worrying given that we have a high number of HIV+ cases. I pray for things to get easier for us all.

 

Dawid Mondrzejewski, Poland

 

 

We are an economy that functions predominately on relatively cheap labor. Unemployment is low, but most salaries are also small. I am worried if killing the economies worth it if we so laxly approach the support for the possibly affected? Hopefully, around the world, fewer people will die from the economic slump, than from the virus (if restrictions have not been so much draconian).

 

Joanne Burke, Orange County, California

 

 

I know there are cases in our city, but neighborhood data is not released. It is a joy to hear my son’s elementary school lessons on Zoom every day while the schools are scrambling to create online content. Prayers to healthcare heroes everywhere!

 

Yash Mahesh Bangera, India

 

 

I was waiting for my MS admits and this corona situation came up suddenly. It will be financially draining and will create a setback for me.

 

Soroush Sarabi, Iran

 

There are grave fears for our people. The severe economic problems in Iran do not allow them to stay at home. Also, Iranians are accustomed to having fun outside the house, and it is tough for them to stay at home, so these two can cause hazardous situations in the next weeks.

 

How Omdena is combating the Coronavirus

A good start to learn more about Omdena’s innovation platform is to read about our Coronavirus Policy AI Challenge, where more than 70 AI and domain experts are collaborating to build AI models that reveal the direct and indirect impact of pandemic policies on the economic health of marginalized communities.

Our aim is to support policymakers in identifying the most effective ways to minimize the economic suffering of those most vulnerable.

 

About Omdena

This crisis shows both the interdependence among countries in the world as well as how countries and communities are impacted on a different scale.

A call for solidarity

After we started a global Coronavirus Policy AI Challenge on our innovation platform at Omdena with more than 70 AI and domain experts, we asked our global community of nearly 1000 collaborators to share their dreams, fears, expectations, and hopes while going through the current crisis.

We have collected 28 stories from 25 countries. This article is part 1 and covers 14 inspiring and thought-provoking stories raising important questions:

What happens to people in the informal economy?

How do experiences differ between developed and developing countries?

How to create awareness for a global approach to solving the crisis?

 

14 countries, 14 perspectives

Matteo Bustreo, Italy

 

 

I am lucky: I can stay in my apartment with my family and I have a job I can do from remote. I went out only twice in the last 10 days, for trashing my bins. My hope is that the hard experience lived by the Italian population can help other governments in taking the most suitable decisions for saving as many lives as possible.

 

Zaheeda Tshankie, South Africa

 

I recently got married again after being widowed for 5 years. Our honeymoon is in Quarantine. A huge disparity in my country is the contrast between the poor and those who are middle-class and above. most poor communities are more concerned about their next meal, not a virus.

 

Anna Lopez, Colombia

 

 

In my city is a resource fund to give food to people that have informal jobs and can’t work now. The mayor picked up all homeless people and created a “refuge camp” where they have food, a ceiling and a clean place to stay for these days. It helps us to feel positive, and that this situation opens our hearts.

Tefy Lucky Rakotomahefa, Madagascar

 

 

I am, in lockdown, at home, for 15 days leveling up my skills. My fear? Are we experienced and disciplined enough to fight this pandemic?

 

Space for optimism

 

 

Serhiy Shekhovtsov, Ukraine

I can see a lot of reasons to stay optimistic here. The whole world is fighting this together. I think one of the best ways to deal with stress and anxiety is to get yourself involved in the fight. I am building a free AI assistant for medical imaging. Hopefully, it will help many doctors someday.

 

Albert Lai, Canada

 

Canada has responded pretty quickly with some sweeping social distancing policies and our government is providing monetary support for those who are unable to support themselves at this time. School’s closed for at least 3 weeks (looks like it’s going to be longer) and we’re looking to start online lessons next week. I’ve been learning about web development in this time and I have to say, it’s time well spent.

Sara EL-ATEIF, Morocco

 

 

People who worked as street vendors or unstable jobs have no income now and are struggling to make ends meet (other people and the government is helping but sadly a lot of people still suffer because we don’t have anything that lists these people as people in need somewhere to make the process quick and efficient).

Eric Nzivo, Kenya

 

My fears aren’t actually on how we will handle the situation since I know we have been in close to worse issues and we still pulled through. My fears are on when the world gets corona in control and only Africa is still affected. What will happen then?

 

Colton Magnant, USA

 

There are many who are hoarding resources and completely disappearing from society. At the opposite extreme, there is a disturbing number of people who are confident that it will not affect them and they insist on going about their normal lives regardless. These different groups may coexist except that there seems to be a general lack of compassion and understanding for the opposite group to the point where tensions are high between them.

 

Experiencing a pregnancy

 

Anju Mercian, USA

I am 22 weeks pregnant and it is a very scary time for me right now. I have currently quarantined myself in my home and I haven’t met anyone for almost a month. Usually, my husband comes with me to calm my nervous and hear the baby’s heartbeat but now he isn’t allowed. If the virus doesn’t subside by July I may have to give birth alone which I really do not want to do.

 

Joseph Itopa Abubakar, Nigeria

 

I fear Coronavirus will give birth to a new form of corruption in Nigeria as donations will not be accounted for. My experience so far is that activities are slow, people who came out to purchase food items are chased to go back home whereas, no measures to supply them with food items in their various homes. The price of face masks and sanitizers have increased by 10 fold.

 

Hoa Nguyen, Vietnam

 

I am living in a busy area in HCM with lots of restaurants, and coffee shops. Due to the lockdown law, all of them closed. The street has never been as empty as right now. Some waiters/waitress and employees of theses shops will work as shipper for delivery services. But some I don’t know might be unemployed because they have no other choice.

 

Yashika Sharma, India

 

My fear is, even when the Covid19 will vanish and the world will be corona free, things are not the same. Everyone will be suspecious and look at others fearfully. Public relations would be affected by doubts like ‘What if this person is infected’.

It will take a long time for conditions to become normal again.

 

Leo and Karen, Brazil

 

We are in São Paulo, Brazil. I’m really concerned about all the poor people living on slums — who will take care of them? But most of all I fear we don’t learn anything from this pandemic. Our values must change, this virus is showing us that we are all on the same boat, doesn’t matter how much money you have or which country you live you can be affected. We have to embrace ourselves as humans and treat the environment more respectfully.

We are thanking all Omdena collaborators for the openness to share experiences.

 

How Omdena is combating the Coronavirus

A good start to learn more about Omdena’s innovation platform is to read about our Coronavirus Policy AI Challenge, where more than 70 AI and domain experts are collaborating to build AI models that reveal the direct and indirect impact of pandemic policies on the economic health of marginalized communities.

Our aim is to support policymakers in identifying the most effective ways to minimize the economic suffering of those most vulnerable.

 

About Omdena