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US Apartment Residents Dance COVID-19 Blues Away

Milan Nesic

   COVID-19 has forced people all over the world to stay at home on strict
   quarantine, but some folks manage to find a way to stay positive. While
   Italians sing from their balconies, and the French applaud their
   doctors, neighbors in Bethesda, Maryland, are dancing and singing
   together -- while keeping their distance.

   Ann Johnson, a retired artist, and Michael Fetchko, a biologist, are
   doing their best to lift spirits at their apartment complex. They
   organize daily "drive the virus away" performances to distract people
   from everyday worries, if only for a little while.

   "We are trying to raise people's spirits, that's what we're doing,"
   says Johnson. "It started with my neighbor in the other building. She
   called me and she said, 'Come out to the balcony. We'll wave because we
   hadn't seen each other for a while.' We did that a few times and we
   thought maybe other people would like to do it, so we passed the word."

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