This past week has, yet again, been chocca with horrible, anxiety-inducing news about our ongoing global pandemic. Donald Trump has been telling people to inject themselves with bleach to stave off COVID-19 (yes, really, and please don’t do this), while Boris Johnson has returned to work fit, healthy, and as awful as ever. Epidemics rage on across the world and lockdown is getting everyone down. We get it. But there are still glimmers of hope in the hellfire that is our current unprecedented times. We’ve been keeping a close eye on everything to be cautiously optimistic about, and we’re here to share the good news with you all.
So close Twitter for a second and read this instead. Here are all the good things about coronavirus that you may have missed this week — it just might help you get through the day. Stay safe and stay inside!
Beyoncé has donated a cool $6 million to essential workers fighting coronavirus
Since the outbreak began, many celebrity projects aimed at helping the fight against COVID-19 have left us shaking our heads and saying “open your purse” (we’re looking at you, awful acapella cover of John Lennon’s ” Imagine”). But Queen B has the right idea of how to actually help… by redistributing the wealth, duh. Acknowledging that the pandemic has disproportionately affected people of colour, last week she announced a $6 million contribution to essential workers through her BeyGood Foundation. Created in collaboration with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Start Small fund, the huge contribution will go towards initiatives to protect the mental health of essential employees, who are understandably anxious and extremely overworked. “Communities of color are suffering by epic proportions due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the BeyGood foundation said in a statement. “Communities that were already lacking funds for education, health and housing are now faced with alarming infection rates and fatalities. These are unprecedented times and it will take our collective efforts to make a difference.”
Mulberry has delivered the first batch of PPE for NHS workers
After joining a host of other fashion houses who have redirected their factories to make masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment for frontline staff, Mulberry have begun to make deliveries to hospitals across the UK, starting with those closest to its Somerset factories in Bristol and Weston. The heritage brand have created a line of fluid-resistant and reusable PPE gowns for medics fighting coronavirus across the country, and expect to produce and deliver another 8000 in the coming weeks. In addition, Mulberry have also raised £75,000 via its Coronavirus Appeal in support of the National Emergencies Trust since its launch in March, and is now redoubling its support of local Bristol ‘Scrub Hub’ — a network of voluntary community groups who are making scrubs to order for NHS staff, by cutting large volumes of fabric to pattern which is then ready to be stitched by volunteers.
Italy is well and truly past the peak of their epidemic
After months of devastating statistics coming out of Italy, it appears that the country’s epidemic is winding down. This week the Italian authorities announced their lowest daily fatality toll since the outbreak took hold in March, and — even better news — the rate of recoveries in the country is almost outpacing the rate of new infections. Given the good news, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is beginning to plan a cautious easing of the strict lockdown currently in place across Italy, including a reopening of parks and a date for schools to restart.
Bottega Veneta announces a scholarship programme to fund scientific research
While Italy’s epidemic is winding down, the pressure is still on to keep the peak flattened and find treatment for COVID-19. To that end Bottega Veneta has announced a two year scholarship for scientific research in Veneto, Lazio and Campania. The €300k, split across two years, will fund pneumology researchers in the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health and another two scholars at the Virology Laboratory of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome as well as the Microbiology and Virology Laboratory of the Hospital Domenico Cotugno of Naples. While two years seems a long way down the line, it’s vital to keep looking ahead in the search for a vaccine and an effective treatment for the disease which has devastated Italy.
A new wave of online auctions let you support charities while owning cool stuff
Young artists and creatives have been badly hit by the lockdown taking place across the world, but they’re managing to stay creative in lockdown. And one of their creative initiatives is helping the National Emergency Trust in the process. Led by filmmakers Molly Manning Walker and Libby Burke Wilde, the auction, which is live until 11 May, will be donating all of its proceeds to the Trust. A new item will be featured every day on the @19daysvscovid19 Instagram, with pieces including a one-of-a-kind signed Loyle Carner football shirt, a hand written poem by trans activist Kai Isaiah Jamal, and prints from photographers including Polly Alderton and Danny North. Every day, at nine o’clock in the morning, a new piece will be auctioned inviting the instagram community to place their bids via the comments section. Each artist has named their start price, which varies across several brackets from £10. There’s also a five day auction from DoBeDo, with proceeds split between Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund and Doctors Without Borders, featuring work from everyone from Bolade Banjo to Frank Lebon, to Hanna Moon and Juergen Teller. Own cool shit, help charity in the process. A win win.