During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Hamburg-based street paper Hinz&Kunzt asked its vendors how severely they have been impacted by its effects.

Now that the world has stopped spinning as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a great time to take a moment to meet a few un-fur-gettable vendor pets and hear about their amazing impact. Pets are a huge part of Curbside Chronicle vendors’ lives and they actively brighten even their most difficult days. We hope you’re also finding comfort in your furry friends as you practice social distancing!

Thanks to coronavirus, says one Street Spirit writer who is homeless, the majority of the USA is getting an idea of day to day life for the homeless community.

Like so many others, INSP intern Jenna Minser’s life was completely upended because of COVID-19. As we all adapt to our new normal, it can be easy to focus on the bad things. Yet, it’s more important than ever to find the big things we can be grateful for and the small things we can do to make the world a little better.

We check in with vendors at Chicago-based street paper StreetWise as coronavirus has made it impossible for most of them to sell the magazine on the streets.

Coronavirus has even upended democracy. In a recent Wisconsin Democratic Primary vote, very little accommodation was made to ensure people could get out to vote, and do so safely. It’s a worry ahead of an important Presidential election set for later this year. If the current circumstances continue, the situation may end up actively stopping people from voting. But the US already has all sorts of different restrictions hampering the ability of its citizens to vote. Two Contributor vendors explain how their past felony charges bar them from exercising the franchise.

The coronavirus pandemic has emptied Hamburg Airport. For those working for ‘Spende Dein Pfand’, a collaboration between the Hamburg street paper Hinz&Kunzt, Hamburg Airport and the Green Dot, that means reduced working hours. The street paper talked to employee Uwe Tröger about how he’s coping.

INSP North America director Israel Bayer calls for short-term relief and sweeping changes from the US federal government as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the homeless community and plunges those in uncertain housing predicaments into greater uncertainty. It is an opportunity, Bayer writes, “to create a national housing justice movement that addresses both systemic racism and the need to provide a safe place to call home for all our citizens.”

In Denmark, coronavirus cases and deaths have been kept relatively low compared to other European countries. But, as with elsewhere, its homeless and socially excluded people remain at risk. With a government more used to criminalising than helping this population, street paper Hus Forbi has implemented radical measures to assist its vendors, and all vulnerable Danes, as the pandemic crisis continues.

From her pitch in Melbourne, The Big Issue Australia’s Mariann B watches the city become deserted, and the streets fall silent as coronavirus forces everyone into lockdown.

In this instalment of his weekly column, Tim Harris, founding director of Seattle street paper Real Change, wonders why it took the crisis initiated by the spread of coronavirus for city officials to realise that the measures had to be taken to help the homeless population into shelter. In Seattle, as in other parts of the world, the pandemic has shown that the way, if not the will, to help those in need was there all along.

The Big Issue took stock of how coronavirus is affecting the world’s homeless community, providing another update on just how severely the spread of the virus is impacting street papers and the people for which they provide an income.