COVID-19 clampdown: Things to do when you can’t go anywhere

Need some suggestions for things to do while you can’t do much? Read on.

Wash Your Lyrics (washyourlyrics.com): Surely the world has never spent so much time talking about hand-washing. This ingenious website, developed by 17-year-old Brit William Gibson, lets you create a poster showing how to properly wash or sanitize your hands but replaces the written instructions with lyrics from your favorite song. This is fun, but maybe best not taken too seriously. The lyrics don’t necessarily reflect how long you need to spend washing your hands. The “Bohemian Rhapsody” version, for example, includes just over a minute’s worth of lyrics under the lathering steps. Since 20 seconds is the typical recommendation, your skin is likely to be mighty dry if you carry on that long. Better to wash more frequently for less time.

Dave Barry: Once upon a time, back around the turn of the century, humorist Dave Barry wrote syndicated newspaper columns. Online wasn’t such a big thing then, so people mostly read him in the actual printed paper. (As Barry often wrote: “I am not making this up.”) So badly does the nation need a laugh that Barry has returned with a piece on how he and his family are coping with social distancing. Read it at miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241213911.html.

Humans of New York (humansofnewyork.com): Photographer Brandon Stanton started his photography project in 2010 with the aim of cataloging New Yorkers. He soon began interviewing them as well, and it’s their stories as much as his photos that have won him 20 million social-media followers and led to two best-selling books. Now that social distancing has paused the in-person photos and interviews for which he’s know, he’s sharing stories — happy stories — that his followers share with him. Find Humans of New York Quarantine Sessions on Facebook at facebook.com/humansofnewyork.