It’s been two weeks since the city went on lock-down. Our living room is now an office and a classroom and a soccer field. It’s been hard staying in all day but it’s necessary and important.
The photo above shows scenes from two cities. On the left is a typical street scene in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where half of my family lives. On the right is Park Avenue South in Manhattan, not far from our apartment in New York City. The photo on the right was taken Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at about 2 p.m. The city that never sleeps has become completely dead.
In Ouagadougou, it’s March, the end of the Harmattan season. The heat is intense, about 110-degree heat every day. Malaria is common and now Covid-19 has arrived. The lack of access to health care is a huge problem. Across the whole country there are about 8,000 hospital beds in a country of almost 20 million people. The quality of care is another issue entirely – there are only a handful of ventilators.
I’m worried about what will happen in New York City and in West Africa.
I hope you and your loved ones are well.
Ouagadougou photo courtesy of @Hugues via Flickr.
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