As the mayor of Baguio City often said, we cannot be held hostage by covid-19. Rightly so. The economy is dying and people have been dying since day one of the pandemic, mostly from physical causes due to the virus. Now it is coming to the attention of the public that so many had also committed suicide.
If the economy were not opened, a lot more will be sent to their graves. Only the funeral parlors would be happy. No choice. So public transportation is being relaxed (more PUVs are allowed on the road), more people are allowed to go outside of their residences (aged 15 to 65), and the physical distance among passengers was shortened (instead of one meter they can just be one seat apart), the curfew was shortened, etc. And the trains can now load 50% instead of 30% of their usual number of passengers. Similar announcements would surely be forthcoming on the number of congregation members to attend church services or to visit houses or sites of worship.
The long and short of these is that you are on your own. There are minimum health protocols to be followed for our safety. It’s up to us. Such however are not enough to protect us from being sent early to our graves. As health officials (including one of our medical columnists) had been saying all along, ultimately, the ball is on our individual courts. Maintain a healthy lifestyle (including hygiene), keep our immune systems strong, not to take unnecessary risks, and we will be OK.
Beyond our individual capacity, we have to get the help of medical institutions, but there is a lot we can do on our own.
Yet the reality that not so many people are knowledgeable regarding these has to be dealt with. Therein lies the success of the government’s thrust to open the economy but not to send people en masse to their graves– to educate people on how to save themselves. Thus, there was mention of an information dissemination campaign. If the government were sincere regarding this, then not so many lives would be sacrificed.
That might, however, be wishful thinking because, by nature, we are stubborn and ‘pilosopo’. If we allow these propensities to get the better of us, then we are done for. Hopefully, the prospect of death staring us in the face will wake us up from our stupidity.**