Cuban dons full-body cardboard shield against coronavirus

Retired nurse salvaged a box and cut arm holes and a window for her face

Last updated: June 19, 2020 | 17:53

Reuters and Compiled by Nathaniel Lacsina, Digital Content Editor

2 MIN READ

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Havana: Ever since the novel coronavirus reached Cuba, a tall cardboard box with arms and legs can be seen tottering around a Havana suburb, popping into the bakery or butchers, or browsing the newspaper stand.

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This is Feridia Rojas, 82, who decided to build and wear mobile housing to shield herself from the virus that is particularly deadly to seniors in a country where personal protective equipment is not sold at stores.

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"I am at home, what about you?" reads a message on her box, in a witty nod to Cuba's coronavirus slogan "Stay at home."

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The widower, whose daughters both live in the United States, said that with no one to run her errands she had to find a way to do so safely by herself, illustrating the resourcefulness and humor for which Cubans are renowned.

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"I was worried about the asymptomatic cases who could cough just as I passed," she said. "So I thought: I'll do a little house with a cardboard box and wear it."

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The retired Cuban nurse salvaged the box from the pharmacy in her Palatino neighborhood and cut arm holes and a window for her face that she covered in clear plastic.

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On top, she glued cake boxes to make it look more like a house with a roof than a flat-topped apartment building.

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"She's very creative," chuckled her neighbor Zayda Echemendia, adding that Rojas still helped locals with injections at home and the like.

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While her mobile home may be less necessary as Cuba's outbreak appears to have come under control, Rojas said it still provided necessary comic relief.

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"In the midst of this pandemic, this stress and anxiety all the time, my little home makes people laugh," she said.

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Retired nurse Feridia Rojas, 82, wears cardboard shaped into a house to protect herself from the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Havana, Cuba.

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Retired nurse Feridia Rojas, 82, wears cardboard shaped into a house to protect herself from the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Havana, Cuba.

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Retired nurse Feridia Rojas, 82, wears cardboard shaped into a house to protect herself from the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Havana, Cuba.

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Retired nurse Feridia Rojas, 82, wears cardboard shaped into a house to protect herself from the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Havana, Cuba.

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