Lesvos and Corona Crisis: "The People Fight Here"

Stand By Me Lesvos

Lesvos and Corona Crisis: “The People Fight Here”

Without help and support from Europe, the last option for the refugees at Camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesvos regarding the Corona crisis, is organising themselves.

For that they urgently depend on financial support.

By Thorsten Fuchshuber

“Keeping the virus off the camp is a race against time”, the local aid agency “Stand by me Lesvos” sums up the situation on the island. Obviously Covid-19 has not reached Camp Moria yet.
Surely no one can really tell if there are undiscovered infections either, but the fact that no medical saliences appeared yet, is that last spark of hope.

Evacuation of the old, sick and kids now!
Since no help is to be expected from the European Union, the refugees have self-organized, facing the dawn of the Corona – epidemic.

Groups such as the “Moria Corona Awareness Team”, the “Moria White Helmets” and “Waves Of Hope” have started printing posters in different languages that inform residents about the fundamental hygiene rules. Even though respecting them under given circumstances seems pointless.
More than 20.000 people are stuffed into a camp built for 3.000 people, under circumstances that baffle every description. So far 4 cases of Covid-19 infections became known on the island, at a capacity of 6 quarantine beds in the hospital of Mytilini.

“The greatest challenge is minimizing any kind of contact between refugees and island residents”, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken reports woxx. As CEO of the German-Iraqi organization “Wadi e.V.” he supports different self-organized groups campaigning on site.

Collectively a big campaign was started earlier this week to show the refugees that every contact outside of the camp is risky.
An outbreak in the camp won’ t be controllable, says Osten-Sacken: “There’ s no possibility of quarantine, people are densely packed and line up for food.

For installing minimal arrangements they hope for last-minute donations: “The plan is to set up improvised watering places for washing hands, a litter service and to improve the communication in the camp.”

A complete evacuation of the camp is not being asked for anymore under current circumstances. It’ s too late for that, the above-mentioned refugee groups state. But evacuation of the relatively small amount of old, sick and under age people can support keeping the mortality numbers low in case of an outbreak of the disease.

” If you wanna do something for us,
please evacuate our parents and grandparents first “

“If you wanna do something for us, please evacuate our parents and grandparents first” Fareshte of the Moria Corona Awareness team appeals to us in a video message. “For us, losing our loved ones, our parents here and now is unbearable.”