As the number of cases has grown — from seven confirmed cases on Tuesday to 19 as of Thursday morning, following the confirmation of 12 new cases including the first two to be locally transmitted — private individuals have begun responding to the situation and offering to provide support.
Among the first to pop up is a Facebook group called "Luxembourg Coronavirus Support Group," which was started by the admins of the big "Luxembourg Expats" group/page. The purported aim of the group is for people to share useful information on the outbreak in Luxembourg without promoting panic, and for people to reach out to each other and discuss the situation.
There is also a change.org petition calling for all schools in Luxembourg to be shut down during the outbreak, which states that "Luxembourg needs to take preventive measures now, to slow the spread of the virus, and not wait for things to get worse" following the WHO's pronouncing the Coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic on Wednesday evening and warning of inaction. At the time of writing the petition has reached 218 signatures.
Finally, Mark Kitchell has started organising information on how people can help each other during the outbreak. In a Facebook post, he says "this could include delivering food, medicine, and vital goods to those in quarantine, to offer to walk the dogs of those in quarantine (will have to be careful here and suggest that dog walkers bring their own leash), and to host the pets of those who are hospitalized and have no one to care for their pets. Open to other ideas on how we can support one another." You can find more information on this via his post in the aforementioned Coronavirus Support Group on Facebook, or get involved via this thread on Reddit.
Remember that it's important not to panic or spread fear. You can find answers to common questions from Luxembourg's Chief Medical officer here.
Also remember to follow Sante.lu's advice on preventing spread.
Do you know of any other initiatives? We'd love to hear about them if so - please drop a comment below, or send us an e-mail via audience (at) rtltoday (dot) lu.
