By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Anybody who had been with a covid-19 positive person at a distance of six feet or less for at least 15 minutes should be tested for covid-19. That’s how contagious the virus is.
Now, what is going around the grapevine is that local government units are not mass testing because that is the way to keep the numbers low. So many people now seem to believe that the virus is so widespread such that the more you test, the number of those who are covid-19 positive will greatly increase.
So keep things under wraps. When mass contact tracing and testing were conducted in the mine sites in Benguet province, hundreds and hundreds of miners were found positive of the virus. Such attitude, however, is criminal. The number of those infected will be increasing exponentially, and the asymptomatic will unknowingly be spreading the disease to their families. Its good if their immune systems could take it. How about those who have co-morbidities that they will infect. They will surely be added to the statistics of fatalities.
Somebody in Baguio got infected by the virus and he never revealed it to his family. He must have thought it will go away. After 17 days, he vomited blood and that was the time he was brought to the hospital. Luckily, he made it but not after his lungs were scarred. He is still recovering from it and has to carry around a canister of oxygen.
He also transmitted the virus to his wife and one of his children. They also made it but what a very expensive and very inconvenient lesson. They are still lucky.
Another bad thing circulating is the reporting on covid-19 deaths. Some private hospitals, as the rumor goes, would declare the deaths of any patient who could not pay their bills as due to covid-19. That way, the hospital bills could be claimed from Philhealth, the government health insurance system.
Another bad news was the one on isolation centers. Aside from those published by the national newspapers and networks, there is one verified information here that all they feed those in isolation are eggs and hotdogs all the time. What did we expect from government? And I thought that these are some of the most unhealthy foods as they are chemically laden?
The good news was a good number of employees (more than 20) of a big and very popular restaurant here got infected by the virus. They were all put in isolation including those traced to have been in contact with them. The owner of the restaurant made arrangements for them to have ample vegetables, fruits and vitamins as specified by the doctors. All of them got well in no time.
One of those employees was so scared when he heard that those who will die of covid would be cremated—“mapuoran kano.” The word “mapuoran” scared him so much. As if he would still feel the pain of being burned. Or perhaps their family anitos did not like the idea. Anyway, he got well.
As this pandemic worsens, we should not be relying on others for our survival. We should be responsible in keeping our immune systems to be in top form every day. We should not wait to be put in isolation before we take the necessary vitamins.
A part of being in top form is exercising moderately everyday or as might suit your circumstances including what your body needs.
Thus, despite the cold temperature early in the morning, I make it a point to get up and do my yoga meditation and yoga exercises. These keep me feeling good and healthy all day.
So I hope that in a few months, I should not look like I should be wearing a maternity dress.
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