Covid-19 has taken the world by storm and transformed the lives of almost everyone. Living in America, it’s understandable that most of the information we’ve heard is about America and very little news is covered about the rest of the world. So much of the information about other countries and how they’ve been dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic comes directly from the leaders or government of those countries and we rarely hear from the citizens.

Courtney-Christine is a teenager living in South Wales, where she’s lived for nearly her entire life. “Personally, I believe that the government should have acted quicker. We didn’t go into lockdown soon enough in my opinion, and then came out of lockdown too soon. The government has opened clubs, pubs, and schools again and now our cases are going back up,” Courtney-Christine said. “Right now things are going back to how they were at the start of the pandemic/ A lot of parts of the country are going into lockdown, and masks are mandatory in shops and other public spaces” 

Veronica is a student living in Singapore, “Singapore is pretty strict with it’s laws and so Singapore citizens take it pretty seriously, including the gov[erment]. The government definitely do their hardest to ensure that people are safe but also can do their own thing and the laws surrounding covid-19 are strict but definitely for people’s safety,” Veronica explained.  “… It was definitely difficult at first because we were all shocked (of course) but I think that I slowly realized that Singapore was doing their hardest and wanted to protect their citizens.” 

Chloe has lived in Canada for her entire life, where she is also currently attending university. “I’d say government response was ok all around, but there were some areas that dealt with it better and some that dealt with it worse. In Vancouver, our provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry became a household name with her words “be kind, be calm, be safe”. The guidelines set for us carried province by province according to the number of cases. I’d say BC did pretty well following our rules for social gatherings and masks quite well although it would have been nice to have masks mandatory in all stores and public buildings as some people neglected to wear them,” Chloe expressed. “I wasn’t fully satisfied. I would have liked to see some rules making masks mandatory in public spaces in Vancouver and a more enforced limit on gatherings in Toronto. Both Vancouver and Toronto are now in a second wave that every sensible person saw coming….Masks are mandatory in any public building in Toronto, I can’t leave my dorm room without mine on but I wouldn’t want to even if it was allowed. There are hand sanitizer stations everywhere. I’ve been able to have some semblance of normalcy in starting university. My friends and I have movie nights projected on a wall outside in the quad, all distanced and wearing masks but that’s really as normal as it gets.” 

Noreen has lived in Cairo, Egypt on and off but has lived there permanently for 4 years. “From what I’ve seen it’s actually been a good response [to the pandemic] and they [the government] managed to contain the virus from further spreading in rapid amounts,” Noreen Articulated. “They’re [the government] lifting off more restrictions, but it’s not close to being normal” 

Madison has lived in Naples, Italy for nearly one month. “[The government response was a] Complete shut down. No one left their homes, if you needed to go somewhere, you had to state paperwork stating where you’re going, why you are going, and where you are from.” Madison recounted “I am satisfied, yes. We have highly qualified medical personnel and I think they made the right choice at the time,” She said confidently. “The curve had flattened for a bit, but we are now back to red. I hear it’s worse now then it had been in the winter and spring, nothing is normal and they’re trying to keep people in lockdown, but they also have to take in how much more damage the economy can take” 

All of these students have unique experiences in countries that have responded differently to the Covid-19 pandemic.  As we continue to learn and grow from our experiences with this pandemic we will further our knowledge and education of this virus. These different perspectives from citizens all over the world truly show how in addition to government response, another main concern is how citizens will respond to the action taken and how this action will affect the citizens for years to come.