It’s been All Wrong

Naga recently marked another Covid death. National data continue to break records in daily cases. I wonder if it’s still a wave with a single crest or multiple peaks that compete against each other in height. The Philippines has even broken Southeast Asian record; topping the ranks over Indonesia. A major feature among the national leaders when faced with this development is a sensitivity of offense to reports of the Philippines’ surge in cases. They would say that the ranking is unfair because data should consider the relativity of number of Covid-19 cases to total national population. So, why did they not point that out when the rankings began? Why do we even believe it in the first place if it follows an unfair system? So, does a nation with a large population has more allowance to have more Covid-19 cases? Does a large population give a nation a good excuse to have pandemic blowup? What I don’t understand is that in the middle of the continuously deteriorating crisis, our government officials are being crybabies who are whining for pats on their backs. Many of our Asian neighbors have successfully contained the crisis. In other parts of the world, there have been significant developments. Italy, France and Spain used to be hotbeds for the virus. Now, they have managed to restore some semblance of normalcy and opened up tourism (although there have been reports of a slow climb of cases). Every nation seems to be having some level of success in containing the problem, and we’re still shooting for the stars. Oh well, the good old U.S. of A. has been persistent in pushing to the top. Come on, let’s not join the Americans in that league.

International analyses suggest that that what pulled the Indochinese nations out of the Covid crisis successfully are early response and effective health care systems. If these are valid and factual examinations, what breaks my heart is that it would be simply very impossible or at least, very difficult for the Philippines to just turn back and put those solutions in place. Could we consider national response to the crisis as “early”? When the virus has not reached the archipelago, the President himself was on defensive mode of mainland Chinese people. Perhaps, many of us had it in our minds that the outbreak won’t ignite here. We may have thought that it would just be an overseas occurrence. Even when we had the first cases in our national territory, no less than the health secretary dilydallied and downplayed the case. The populace was given false confidence on the absence of community transmission. It did not take long before the virus crept across the capital and the rest of the nation. Now, we have come so deep into the point of no return. How about efficient health care systems? Now, the latest flavour of the month is the senate inquiry on alleged corruption in Philhealth. Now, the President is vowing to go after the corrupt officials. Was he not reluctant in putting his appointees in a bad light? No early response and not much of an efficient system. No wonder.

What glimmer of hope can a Filipino see in the future? Each day, despite our emotions and endeavors, the numbers unstoppably shoot up to new heights. All those quarantines and protocols have undeniably now proven to be failures. I suppose they all have to sit down because undoubtedly, the policies that the government have put in place to combat this problem have not shown to be in any way impressive. Why is the effectiveness of a community quarantine evaluated after a 14 day period? Maybe that time needs to be extended. To simply put it, if a 14 day quarantine is effective, then we should have experience at least some decline in the number of cases. Thank the Lord, the authorities have opened themselves in re-evaluating the utilization of the rapid tests. Now, we need more efficient system of testing. How efficient is contact tracing? Probably not very. Let’s look at how that can be overhauled and improved. What makes the isolation procedures inefficient? Maybe we’re doing all the so-called health protocols all wrong. Maybe those masks, shields, barriers and distancing are not all that they are protective as we consider them to be. Maybe we’re doing everything wrong. Evidently, it has been all wrong.

Now, Russia says it has a vaccine. Can we stop and think a while before we take that shot?

Maybe the Covid-19 numbers are a reflection of every social ill in the Philippines: poverty, substance abuse, crime, corruption etc. They keep getting worse. When we try to solve it, we make it worse.

“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?””

Acts 2:37