The prospect of lifting the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and restarting the Philippine economy anew seem farfetched as cases of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) continue to mount.
The pandemic may have upended our normal lives since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown last March 16 but we persevere to survive in the new world order. While the impecunious ones fumilate on the restrictions that was intended to prevent the spread of the disease, others faithfully adhere to the lockdown hoping the curve will soon spiral down. The incoherence, economic circumstances of residents, political intramurals, poor health system and other indiscretions stirred up a cocktail of another epidemic within a pandemic. The epidemic of non-conformity was exemplified in a boxing match in the Port Area, cockfights, and fiesta-like atmosphere elsewhere.
In Angeles City, Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. was quick to assuage the general feeling of helplessness amid the pandemic. The local chief executive had been doing his best to deter the surge of the disease that is seen to affect economic growth prospect for 2020 in the country.
It’s about time for the Filipinos to take this pandemic seriously as infections rose to 5,453 and 349 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon. The number of infections kept surging leaving us in the woods just when the upward curve will finally ebb.
Lazatin has already allotted P30 million for the Covid-19 Mass Testing Center and testing kits. With nine confirmed cases of Covid, Lazatin deemed it necessary to do immediate mass testing.
The city government under Lazatin was extending all its resources just to reach those in the margins. It can only do so much. Discipline which is bereft in some people is key to prevent human-to-human transmission.
At the rate some residents violate the quarantine order, the longer we will have to feel the effect of the pandemic. The curve is currently on its upward trajectory and we will have to wait it out until it reaches the peak – as we become accustom to daily deaths.
With the World Health Organization (WHO) out of the equation as the United States withdraws its annual $900 million funding – the entire world is now on the edge. The narratives coming from both China and the US do not bode well for the entire world.
In the past, we look up to the US for support in whatever circumstances we are in. With the US not having a clear plan itself on how to battle the disease, we are basically on our own albeit we had been receiving assistance from other countries here and there.
Discipline, according to Lazatin will spell a difference. It was only more than a month ago when we still enjoy the relative norms in our lives. In an instant, we now have to face our mortality in a very unassuming time. May God gives us the absolution and mercy to the entire humanity in this extraordinary and humbling moments.