“Extreme prejudice” is now a virtue. It can save one’s life and of others while the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) hovers.
In what appears to be a battle cry, health professionals from the City Health Office (CHO), July 30, advised Baguio residents, “Treat yourself and everyone around you as [COVID-19] positive”.
The rule, top docs led by CHO head Dr. Rowena Galpo stressed, will make everyone vigilant in adhering to health and safety protocols.
Earlier, Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong in an appeal offered a similar formula: “Treat yourself like you have it. Treat others like they have it. Make it a habit.”
Meantime, Dr. Donna Lorenzana Tubera-Panes said, adherence to health protocols reduces transmission of the virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS Cov2), by 80-percent according to studies.
SARS Cov2 is the virus behind COVID-19.
Panes, who heads the CHO’s City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit said, minimum health protocols to curb spread of the virus include frequent handwashing; proper use of facemasks in public; coughing and sneezing in one’s shoulders; and, physical distancing.
She likewise appealed for residents to “keep travels to essentials and avoid the ‘3 Cs’: Crowded conditions; Close spaces; and Conversations in short distances.”
Panes likewise scored persons who place others at risk by not wearing facemasks properly.
She said, “You can acquire [COVID-19] in one breath. A person’s respiratory rate is 20-breaths per minute…. the risk [of catching the disease] is so high.”
She added, “So if you don’t wear your [personal protective equipment] properly, there is a big possibility of contracting it. So if you contract it, you cannot blame other people for infecting you because you are the one wearing your mask.”**Aileen P. Refuerzo
