It’s been a few months since COVID-19 entered our world. How are our tutors doing these days? And what can we do now that many of our countries are opening up again? 

As with our last COVID update, we’ll cover the situation in our three main regions (the Philippines, the Balkans, and North America). Then, we’ll update everyone on the recent donation drives we held and share some tips for staying safe as our countries re-open. 

The Situation In Our Home Countries

A few months into lockdown, most of our countries are now doing better. In the Philippines, stay-at-home orders have been lifted in some areas. However, the places that most of our tutors call home (i.e. Manila, neighboring Laguna province, and Cebu) will remain under quarantine. Ingat!

In the Balkans, Montenegro recently joined the Faroe Islands to become the first European countries to be COVID-free. Meanwhile, Serbia has lifted its state of emergency. Stores, gyms, restaurants, and shopping centers are reopening and public gatherings of up to 1,000 people are now allowed, though social distancing is still strongly advised.

In North America, the US recently hit a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths while Canada experienced the highest daily death toll in two weeks. However, the curve is flattening in both countries. Meanwhile, in Jamaica, where the death toll has not risen for over two months, work-from-home measures have been lifted.

Donation Drives

Amidst all the uncertainty in the world today, we at Engoo are fortunate to be able to keep working from the safety of our homes, so we thought about how we could give back. After some brainstorming, we came up with the idea to raise money to fight COVID-19, and held two donation drives:

1. For each lesson conducted between April 28 and May 10, Engoo donated 2 Philippine pesos to frontline healthcare workers through I AM HOPE PH.
2. For each lesson conducted between May 1 and May 10, Engoo donated $0.05 US dollars to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders to fund MSF’s direct COVID-19 response and its impact on their ongoing medical projects.

Thanks to enthusiastic participation from tutors like yourself, we’re proud to say that we’ve raised $9,044.82 USD for I AM HOPE and $7,369.10 for Doctors Without Borders!

As Things Re-Open

As the world around us begins re-opening, make sure to continue taking precautions like thoroughly washing your hands, wearing masks, and staying (at least) 1.5 meters away from other people.

And of course, the safest thing to do is to keep staying at home, which we’re all good at. But if we do have to go out, what should we do? Below are some tips from experts:

• Stay outdoors: If you go to a restaurant, ask to be seated outdoors. If you are meeting friends, try to do so outdoors.
• Continue to avoid people indoors: Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Shop during off-peak hours. Use takeout/takeaway or delivery for food.
• If you must be indoors with other people, make sure the space is well-ventilated: If you enter a store and the air feels stuffy, don’t go in. If you’re meeting friends indoors, open the windows. 
• Stay 1.5 meters apart from people who you do not live with.
• Refrain from physical contact and sharing: That means no high-fives, hugs, or handshakes yet! Also, friends who are picnicking together should each bring their own food.
• Avoid touching surfaces in public places. Wash and/or sanitize your hands immediately after touching a surface.

(Sources: The Atlantic, Market Watch, Today)

Finally, as the things reopen, it’s easy to get too relaxed, so don’t forget to actively remind people around you to keep up the precautions. According to the Harvard Business Review, we're "very bad at speaking up":

In a recent VitalSmarts study of 1062 respondents, 3 out of 4 admitted to being nervous about infection risk when interacting with others. And yet, 7 out of 10 people admit to saying less than they think they should to keep themselves and others safe.

So as the saying goes, “If you see something, say something.” This way, we’ll keep ourselves and everyone else safe.

👋 That’s it for now!

We hope these tips will serve you well in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we’ll end with a quote that seems relevant to our current situation:

“It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” 

Winston Churchill

Things are getting better, but let’s remember to remain cautious for everyone’s sake!