Brian Jeffrey
Welcome to #NotBadNews, our new (and hopefully short-lived) daily column where we round up the good, surprising, and weird things that have happened around the world during this coronavirus pandemic.
In today’s #NotBadNews, we take a look at some of the hilarity coming from online-schooling and a 95th birthday serenade sang six-feet apart.
Italy Releases Patient One
The country that saw one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks just released its first coronavirus patient from the hospital. Spending weeks in intensive care, Mattia is now breathing on his own and headed back home, just in time for the birth of his child.
If you’re looking for a little bit of hope in these scary times, Mattia has it for you, saying, “You can get cured of this illness.”
Teachers Give Social Distancing Their Best
Around the world, schools are moving to online platforms, allowing for continued education in a time of social distancing. We commend educators for their willingness and ability to quickly transition to a platform they might not be familiar with and are loving the different ways teachers are approaching it.
This professor at the University of North Carolina Law School brought his own student to class, filling one of the many empty seats.
My professor is 74 and he isn’t confident using Zoom so he’s prerecorded the rest of our classes. Today, I watched the first one. He has a Pinocchio doll in the front row because he isn’t comfortable teaching to an empty room. I’m social distancing for this man and this man only. pic.twitter.com/2HvG3xhrTt
— montana (@macho_montana) March 22, 2020
Celebrities are even sharing their own Zoom-schooling experience, with Broadway favorite Lin-Manuel Miranda posting this hilarious tweet about his son.
Day 3 home school, morning shift:
-remote check in w actual kindergarten teacher: great! Se figured out the mute technology on Zoom so fast 🤣
-math: a disaster! 30 minute tantrum to get 5 minutes of writing numbers! I AM the father!
-art: thanks @The_Pigeon for doodle class pic.twitter.com/NUT9Z2Vhgm
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 18, 2020
And for the cutest thing you’ll see all day, nothing can stop this pre-K group from gathering for class.
This pre k Zoom meeting with 22 four year olds is not very productive, but it’s super duper cute. 💕 pic.twitter.com/aoBXjTwGOw
— Lindsay Kaplan (@lindsaykap) March 23, 2020
While their class might not have been the most productive, this get-together is definitely the most heart-warming.
This Canadian Distillery Executes a Perfect Pivot
Distilleries and breweries across North America have found a new market–the anti-bacterial. Throughout Kentucky, bourbon distilleries are focusing less on bourbon and more on hand sanitizer, finding a new purpose for the alcohol (while keeping thousands of workers employed).
In Ontario, Dillion’s Distillery is bottling up their strongest alcohol to be shipped out for sanitization purposes.
They’re not pretty but they work. We’re bottling up some 65% alcohol for disinfecting. Any essential service individual or organization who needs some, reach out, we’ll have 1,000+ bottles for tomorrow, on us. More hand sanitizer is here for anyone in need.
Reach out via DM pic.twitter.com/AYF0lsO24L— Dillon’s Distillery (@dillonsdistills) March 17, 2020
We applaud the ingenuity of this community, but definitely look forward to a time when they can go back to focusing on drinks (and a time when our favorite alcohol can be bourbon and not hand sanitizer).
A 95th Birthday Six-Feet Apart
No one could stop this family from celebrating their grandma’s birthday, not even coronavirus! While they couldn’t get together in the traditional sense, unfortunately no cake cutting this time around, they were still able to wish her very a happy birthday.
This video warmed our hearts, and it is definitely possible that I shed a tear (or two) while watching.
Check-in every day for an update on the wonderful and weird things happening in our current coronavirus world.
Written by: Fodor
