News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
During the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic,
students
and
young
professionals from around the world
have come together to form a global
movement called #Students_Against_
COVID,
which
is
dedicated
to
bringing students and allies together
to spread awareness about the severity
of the virus. They strive to facilitate
effective and socially responsible
collaboration and innovation while
working to champion scientifically-
based principles.
U-M alum Alina Haque, media
outreach
coordinator
of
SAC,
described
how
she
started
the
movement with her sister, Marina
Haque, a 2020 dual Medical Doctor
and
Master
of
Public
Health
candidate
at
the
University
of
Michigan. On March 16, she tweeted
asking students to share what they
were doing regarding the COVID-19
crisis using the hashtag #Students_
Against_COVID so people would be
better able to connect.
“My sister started receiving more
and more responses from student
activists around the world who were
eager to share and connect what they
were doing to help with the COVID
crisis,”
Alina
Haque
responded.
“One of the first persons to connect
with her was a medical student from
Greece, who helped bring in several
more health care students around the
globe. Together, they decided to make
a platform for all students and allies
to more effectively collaborate.”
In an email to The Daily, Marina
Haque said her primary motivation
for starting the movement is to spread
knowledge and credible information.
“The movement strives to champion
science, foster inclusion, and support
healthcare
workers
during
this
critical time,” Marina Haque wrote.
“A lot of what we are seeing happening
around us in the world is because
people did not listen to scientists. A
lot of people worldwide are dying, and
now, more than ever, is the time to
listen to scientists and quite frankly,
keep listening to scientists.”
Alina Haque said the platform first
started as a simple WhatsApp group
chat but quickly expanded as people
began taking on new initiatives.
“Someone would say, ‘I’m really
interested in helping with a mental
health
initiative,’
and
they
will
make their own separate group chat
and report back to a team of lead
facilitators,” Alina Haque said. “And
someone else will say, ‘I’m really
interested
in
collecting
personal
protective equipment,’ and they will
make their own group chat.”
All of these small groups fall under
the umbrella of Students Against
COVID. Currently, the group consists
of more than 150 students and spans
across more than 40 countries.
When Ana Sofia Mota, a final
year medical student in Lisbon,
Portugal, first joined SAC, she said
she was surprised by both the scale
of the movement and the amount of
coordination involved.
“I was overwhelmed by how big it
was,” Mota said. “I got into WhatsApp,
and I see so many messages, and I was
saying, ‘What’s happening? How can
these people be so efficient?’ They are
all so different, yet they work together
so well.”
Alina Haque said the main goal
of SAC is to spread awareness about
the severity of the crisis and offer
educational information regarding
COVID-19.
“One thing that we have is a
translation
team,”
Alina
Haque
said. “They collectively speak 25+
languages to try to ensure our content
is widely accessible. We’ve created
COVID-19 informational flyers, for
example, and paired with other health
literacy movements to help widely
disseminate information.”
Lolita Matishova, a second-year
internal medicine intern at Kharkiv
Medical Academy in Ukraine and a
member of the translation team, said
a platform like SAC is crucial to keep
people informed during this time of
crisis.
“We are students with a lot
of information, and we use this
platform to spread that information,”
Matishova said. “What’s even more
important is that we also translated
them into different languages, so
other people can read them in their
own language without any challenge.”
One of SAC’s recent efforts was
the SafeHand challenge video, which
had members from around the world
demonstrating correct hand-washing
techniques.
Aman Tahir, an incoming U-M
student and part of the SAC media
team,
expressed
her
excitement
at seeing a collective global effort
unfold, particularly when watching
the SafeHand video for the first time.
“It was an inspiring educational
video, compiled by talented people
from around the globe,” Tahir said.
“I felt immense joy watching the
video knowing that there are such
amazing people in this movement
who have spectacular ideas and
execution of projects. I know that this
organization has so much in store,
and I am optimistic about its future
endeavors.”
SAC
members
not
only
work
within
SAC-managed
platforms
but are often part of various other
forms of COVID-related activism
in their local communities. Ramsha
Akhund, a medical student at Aga
Khan University Hospital in Karachi,
Pakistan and SAC member, is also
involved with a local relief effort
called The Student Taskforce Against
COVID-19.
“We helped set up a helpline in the
hospital so the students can answer
questions on-call,” Akhund said, “So
that the health workers can focus on
the front line and students can help
behind the scenes.”
Alina
Haque
mentioned
a
collaborative effort with MedSupply
Drive to collect personal protective
equipment for local hospitals and
health workers.
JIALIN ZHANG
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during
the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is
available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long
subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription
rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor
ekwhite@michigandaily.com
SAYALI AMIN and LEAH GRAHAM
Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com
Senior News Editors: Barbara Collins, Claire Hao, Alex Harring, Ben Rosenfeld,
Emma Stein, Liat Weinstein
Assistant News Editors: Francesca Duong, Julia Forrest, Brayden Hirsh, Jasmin
Lee, Hannah Mackay, Parnia Mazhar, Alyssa McMurtry, Emma Ruberg, Julia
Rubin, Michal Ruprecht, Arjun Thakkar
EMILY CONSIDINE and MILES STEPHENSON
Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Senior Opinion Editors: Alanna Berger, Brittany Bowman, Zack Blumberg,
Timothy Spurlin, Joel Weiner
JOHN DECKER and JULIANNA MORANO
Managing Arts Editors
arts@michigandaily.com
ALLISON ENGKVIST and ANNIE KLUSENDORF
Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com
MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA
Managing Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com
Deputy Editors: Emily Stillman, Marisa Wright
MADISON GAGNE and SADIA JIBAN
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com
Senior Copy Editors: Olivia Bradish, Sophie Kephart, Silas Lee, Olivia Sedlacek,
Ellie Scott
TIM CHO and SIMRAN PUJJI
Managing Online Editors
webteam@michigandaily.com
Senior Web Developers: Parth Dhyani, Abha Panda, Rohan Prashant, Jonathan
Liu
ALEC COHEN and ELI SIDER
Managing Video Editors video@michigandaily.com
Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Zoha Bharwani, Lora Faraj, Ayomide
Okunade, Gabrijela Skoko
Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Cheryn Hong, Anamkia Kannan, Vaishali
Nambiar, Sean Tran, Angela Zhang
Senior Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Bailey Johnson, Ben Katz, Jacob Kopnick,
Anna Marcus, Rian Ratnavale
Assistant Sports Editors: Connor Brennan, Lily Friedman, Lane Kizziah,
Brendan Roose, Kent Schwartz, Molly Shea
Senior Video Editors: Joseph Sim
Senior Social Media Editors: Jessie Norris, Mya Steir, Kristina Zheng
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327
www.michigandaily.com
ARTS SECTION
arts@michigandaily.com
SPORTS SECTION
sports@michigandaily.com
ADVERTISING
dailydisplay@gmail.com
NEWS TIPS
news@michigandaily.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
EDITORIAL PAGE
opinion@michigandaily.com
ANITA MICHAUD
Business Manager
734-418-4115 ext. 1241
ammichau@michigandaily.com
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Editor in Chief
734-418-4115 ext. 1251
esla@michigandaily.com
PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION
photo@michigandaily.com
NEWSROOM
734-418-4115 opt. 3
CORRECTIONS
corrections@michigandaily.com
THEO MACKIE and ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com
Senior Arts Editors: Jo Chang, Elise Godfryd, Zoe Phillips, Jonah Mendelson,
Ally Owens
Arts Beat Editors: Samantha Cantie, Dana Pierangeli, Andrew Pluta, Cassandra
Mansuetti, Anish Tamhaney, Sophia Yoon
SHERRY CHEN and CHRISTINE JEGARL
Managing Design Editors
design@michigandaily.com
Senior Design Editor: Lizzy Rueppel
MAYA MOKH and ANA MARIA SANCHEZ CASTILLO
Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com
JOHN GRIEVE and BEN KORN
Managing Social Media Editors
Editorial Staff
Business Staff
Senior Photo Editors: Keemya Esmael, Asha Lewis, Miles Macklin
Assistant Photo Editors: Olivia Cell, Ryan Little, Emma Mati, Alexandria
Pompei, Alexis Rankin
MOLLY WU
Creative Director
SAMANTHA SMALL and SONYA VOGEL
Managing Podcast Editors
RYAN KELLY
Sales Manager
LILLY HANSON
Senior Account Executive
ANALISE DOORHY
Senior Account Executive
TARA MOORE
Senior Account Exeucutive
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Students adapt to working at home by creating study spaces to help them focus on online lectures and discussions.
Students undertake global
collaboration to stop virus
Young adults, professionals work together to pool resources,
time to help combat worldwide pandemic, help communities
2A — Wednesday, April 8, 2020
See STUDENTS, Page 3A