Coronavirus: Twitter lauds woman helping elderly couple buy groceries

This picture has been used for representational purposes. Picture/AFP

A 25-year-old woman in Oregon, USA helped an elderly couple buy their groceries amid the Coronavirus outbreak. The woman narrated the experience on Twitter that has gone viral, where she requested people to help others in need during the ongoing pandemic.

The woman, Rebecca Mehra was walking in to the grocery store when she heard the woman asking her to help from her car. "I walked over and found an elderly woman and her husband. She cracked her window open a bit more, and explained to me nearly in tears that they are afraid to go in the store," she wrote on the microblogging site.

According to the health experts, people suffering from pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems are at risk from getting infected from the virus. Mehra said that the women asked her to help as they heard of elderly people are being affected from the disease disproportionately and they did not have any of their family members around to help them.

The couple handed her a USD 100 bill from the window crack of their car and asked if she would be willing to buy groceries for them. She then said that she bought the groceries and placed them on the trunk of their car. The woman told her that they were waiting in their car for past 45 minutes waiting for the ‘right person' to help them.

"I know it's a time of hysteria and nerves, but offer to help anyone you can. Not everyone has people to turn to," she tweeted in the end.

Mehra, whose post thread received over 252,900 likes and was retweeted more than 21,700 times was lauded for her act of kindness by the Twitterati.

Mehra was quoted by Fox News as saying, "Of course we all think about ourselves and this is why it's been so scary." She said that the episode made her realise that they others in the community that are much more affected and urged people to do their best to help them.

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