Global Voices’ guidance on the coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic

Dear GV Community,

As you know, the World Health Organization has officially declared the coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic, acknowledging that the virus is likely to affect all countries in the world.

From a workplace standpoint, Global Voices finds itself in the enviable position of being entirely virtual, with much of our work conducted remotely and not dependent on fieldwork or on physical contact with sources. At the same time, many of us live in places that have been, are currently, or will soon be subject to various levels of restrictions on movement and social contact. Many of us are also frequent travelers.

Many of us on the core and editorial team have decided to curtail all international travel for the foreseeable future. We have cancelled talks, gatherings, and postponed an upcoming Rising Voices workshop we were planning for March. We are also working on ways to run virtual meetings for several other in-person workshops we were hoping to hold over the next two months.

If anyone is seeking advice around travel or needs help in weighing the risks involved in travel or other activities during this unprecedented moment, please feel free to reach out to any of us on the core team—we’d be happy to get on a call.

I hope everyone has had the time to look at the excellent special coverage section on Covid-19 and China spearheaded by Oiwan Lam and Filip Noubel, and with increasing contributions by many of you around the world. If the pandemic influences your circumstances in ways you’d like to share, we’d love to hear more stories like Oiwan’s very moving personal narrative of what it’s like to live under conditions of semi-quarantine.

We do advise, however, that you not undertake any special first-hand reporting on GV’s behalf during this period. None of us should risk our health and that of others for a story. There is still much we don’t know about the situation, so it’s best to err on the side of caution and not take unnecessary risks.

We’re all hoping that this moment of global upheaval passes swiftly. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and the people around you.

Stay safe!

Ivan and Georgia

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