We’re going through very tough times. A once in a lifetime pandemic named Covid-19 has been rapidly spreading around the world and it is just getting started in many countries including Germany. The numbers are scary— as of today (March 21st), there are 22,084 cases in Germany with 83 deaths, and 209 recovered. We’re all hoping that it doesn’t follow the path Italy took, which is heading towards 5000 deaths at the time of this writing.

I’ve been in self-quarantine and working remotely since last Friday and physically saw only a couple of people in total. Looking at where we’re headed, it’s easy to estimate that we will be more isolated in the coming days or weeks. German government might be planning on a total lockdown for the entire country. The state of Bavaria has already made the decision to go ahead with a full coronavirus street ban.

Today was Saturday. Usually Bergmannkiez is full of people when the sun is out. But, this was not the case. Just seeing a few people around, and dealing with this depressing situation, I wanted to do something creative and cope with these feelings.

I noticed that almost every shop on Bergmannstrasse was either closed or serving customers one at a time. Most of them put up a sign on their window.

So, I took photos.. Many of them. Then, decided to put together an article just to do something about it. As I was putting everything together I realized I was getting scared. I was scared for mostly the people I love the most.

Looking at these photos made me better understand how devastating the situation is. They seem to belong to a dystopian society, or a Black Mirror episode.

I hope seeing these photos and reading these notes will also help you feel closer to one another during these hard times and remind you how important those loved ones are..