─ personal opinion essay by Debbie Cataluna
At the end of the year 2019, a new virus emerged in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province, due to the sudden increase of Pneumonia cases, which eventually led to the discovery and the outbreak of the disease called Coronavirus or COVID-19 – an infectious disease that causes respiratory illness, such as the flu, with symptoms like cough and colds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The coronavirus disease has then been known to be spread through contact with an infected person’s cough or sneeze. This is then transmitted when a person is exposed to surfaces in which the infected person coughed and sneezed on touches his/her eyes, nose, or mouth. Furthermore, on January 30 of 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on March 11, 2020, it was officially declared as a pandemic. Since then, what started as an epidemic in China has now become a global pandemic.
On January 30, 2020, the first covid-19 case was confirmed. Due to this, President Duterte ordered a travel ban from China – the country where the coronavirus outbreak originated. However, COVID-19 cases still continued to increase, and on March 6, 2020, Philippines marked the first local transmission case wherein a Filipino man who has not traveled out of the country recently had tested positive. As a result, a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases occurred. In response to this crisis, President Rodrigo Duterte has declared not only a community quarantine, but an Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon to prevent the further spread of the said disease. This lockdown consists of different restrictions: limitation on the people’s movement, closure of establishments, travel restrictions, and to add, the government has also implemented curfew hours.
In spite of the implementation of enhanced community quarantine, general community quarantine, modified enhanced community quarantine, modified general community quarantine and other measures all over the country, COVID-19 cases still continue to accelerate since the first case was confirmed. However, vaccinations for priority groups such as front liners, senior citizens, and many more have been approved, but despite this, the cases in the Philippines are still reportedly spreading "faster compared to before” as stated by a public health expert. With this, we can only wonder why the cases in our country still haven’t decreased despite the drastic measures done to prevent the spread.
While it is essential that we recognize the ongoing efforts of our public servants in lessening COVID-19 cases from affecting a more significant population and putting Filipinos at risk, it is also of massive importance that we take a look at the bigger picture by taking into consideration the impact that this pandemic is creating on the communities being left behind especially as the COVID-19 cases in our country continue to rise. For instance, the poor should be shown more sympathy as they need it most. Unlike the privileged, they don’t have back-ups, nor do they much options. If we consider poor communities with dilapidated housing conditions and households which lack running water, disinfectants, and access to food and nutrition, we start to realize that advices such as handwashing, maintaining good nutrition, and self-quarantine – which is vital to prevent contracting the virus, truly matters of privilege.
You cannot level the capacity of these poor communities with the ones on top in terms of obeying health protocols simply because they prioritize their survival needs over their safety. They would be forced to use their time and resources to sustain such needs not because they want to but because they have to. An example of this would be the vegetable vendors who were arrested for illegally selling their goods. However, if we look into the situation, they were only doing it because they were afraid to go hungry and wouldn’t have enough to feed their families. On the first few months of quarantine, the government provided aid and assistance for the less privileged, but this wasn’t enough to accommodate their necessities in the long run. It was primarily unavoidable for everybody to work outside the home to carry on their lives with financial problems ahead of them. While many Filipinos also lost their jobs, this wasn’t any different with the marginalized, and to think that it’s even much harder for them gives the government more reason to pay them with the attention they deserve.
If only our economy were elevated and properly handled earlier, it wouldn’t come to this – many wouldn’t have suffered this much. With the underlying corruption issues amidst the pandemic also says a lot about our administration, it is unfair that we are experiencing such consequences because of their incompetence and greediness. This has actually been a concern even back then, and it’s sad to think that it has gone worse, especially that we rely upon our lives to them more than ever.
Although it is our civic duty to submit to such protocols mandated by the government, it is also heavily important that they answer to the calls of the Filipino people, especially the minorities. In spite of their current effort in controlling the spike of COVID-19 cases, it is also not wrong to demand for more because aside from the fact that it’s our right as citizens of this country, they also have to fulfil their duty as elected leaders of this country. It is not enough that they only provide us with the bare minimum. The government cannot keep turning a blind eye on the suffering of the mass especially because we rely greatly on them.
To conclude, despite being known as the country with the most extended lockdown, I still firmly believe that we will be able to overcome the effects of this pandemic as long as we all collectively play our part in the fight against the said virus. With that being said, let’s all continue to do our part every day to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. Wear a mask, maintain social distancing, and keep your hands clean. Let us do whatever we can to avoid COVID-19 from causing any further harm to us.
Sources:
Aspinwall, N. (2020). Coronavirus lockdown strikes fear among Manila’s poor. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/3/14/coronavirus-lockdown-strikes-fear-among-manilas-poor.
CNN Philippines Staff (2020). Duterte orders travel ban from China province amid coronavirus scare. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/1/31/Philippines-novel- coronavirus- China-travel-ban.html.
Gregorio, X. (2020). Philippines confirms first case of novel coronavirus. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/1/30/Philippines-coronavirus- case.html.
Maru, D. (2020). Public told to be vigilant as COVID-19 cases rising 'faster than before'. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/08/21/public-told-to-be- vigilant-as-covid-19-cases-rising-faster-than-before.
Santos, A. (2020). Poverty punished as Philippines gets tough in virus pandemic. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/13/poverty-punished-as-philippines-gets-tough-in-virus-pandemic.
Tan, L. (2020). Philippines records its first local case of coronavirus. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/3/6/Philippines-coronavirus-local- case.html.
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