There’s a statement attributed to Joseph Stalin: “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is only statistics.” Currently, we are dealing with tragic and humongous statistics in terms of the number of people infected with Covid-19, and number of deaths caused by it. Countries around the world have been outpointing each other on this score and the grim race shows ghastly results. As of this writing, more than 830,000 people have been confirmed to have the virus and close to 50,000 people have died. This is the most challenging medical crisis facing every country, which has also caused unprecedented economic recession all over the world.
And the most powerful country in the world appears to be foundering, until their leaders started to put their act together by passing the $2-trillion stimulus package to fund the mounting efforts to combat the pandemic and spur the economy. For a while, President Donald J. Trump had the impression that he had seized the bull by its horn and characteristically sounded more optimistic in his pronouncement. For instance, he announced that he would ease the Covid-19 guidelines by Easter and normalize business in the US, until Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top American expert on infectious diseases, presented his model, warning Trump to be prepared for 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. Premature withdrawal of the social distancing guidelines by Easter and reopening the US back to normal business will pose great risks to its people.
Fauci has become the rational and reassuring voice. Americans get nervous and worried when Trump appears on TV without Fauci in the background. Numbers don’t lie. The data culled by Fauci and his team presents a very clear case that pulling back the instituted measures would cause thousands and thousands of avoidable deaths. The death-estimate model convinced Trump to drop his wishful messaging. Confronted with the cold data, he realized that the next two weeks would be “most painful to America” and that strict enforcement of the social distancing guidelines is now a “matter of life and death.”
****
Everyone gets a chance to show how he cares for his fellow human beings, particularly the doctors who risk their lives to save us from this lethal virus. A lady doctor rushing to get to a hospital was chased by a motorcycle cop. She was very scared when she pulled her car on the side of the road, worried that the trooper would give her a ticket. But she burst into tears when, after finding out that she was a doctor on her way to the hospital, the cop gave her a medical mask instead of a ticket for speeding. That kind gesture is replicated in many parts of the Philippines. A young Filipino couple who works in a BPO prepared 30 packs of sandwiches that was distributed to health workers who take their rides near the couple’s rented apartment, and the couple promised to do this regularly. A former habal-habal rider gives a free ride to health workers without charging them anything. One does not have to be rich to help others. As Mother Theresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”
****
It’s common knowledge that every hospital, particularly in Metro Manila, is crowded and overburdened by patients seeking Covid-19 treatment. Tents are now put up since hospitals are filled to their capacity. Even the hallways are now being used, with plastic sheets or tarpaulins to provide protection and privacy.
The situation is hapless and hopeless and the existing facilities are now stretched to their limits, rendering the hospitals unconducive to treatment and recovery. This poses a threat not only to the patients but to their attending health workers as well.
If we look around, we have vacant buildings, both public and private, which may be rehabilitated and fitted out or may be converted into medical or quarantine facilities. Let’s help the government to identify them to facilitate their immediate conversion, if found appropriate. For instance, SSS has a vacant two-story building in Cubao along Edsa at the back of the Farmers market, and condo units in Aurora Boulevard near Katipunan. The Insurance Commission owns a vacant lot adjacent to its head office along UN Avenue, which can house tents or temporary structures for medical use. I’m sure other government offices have similar available spaces. An ideal vacant private building is my former office building, the seven-story Philam Life Head Office Building in UN Avenue, Manila. Persons Under Investigation and Persons Under Monitoring and those exhibiting mild-to-moderate symptoms can be accommodated there to free up hospital beds, which should be devoted to more serious cases. It is just across the Manila Doctors’ Hospital and very near to PGH and Manila Medical Center. These top medical institutions can easily partner with or serve as extension facilities once this gets converted into a medical or quarantine center.
Proper placement and accommodation of confirmed and suspected cases is an effective way to prevent the spread of the disease. Isolation and quarantine will prevent carriers and sick people from contaminating others. Buildings are definitely better than tents and other makeshift structures. The old PhilamLife Building is now owned by the SM Group. The Sy family is a known philanthropist and has already made significant contributions to government’s efforts to overcome this pandemic. Their combined wealth makes them the richest family in our country. As an old proverb says: “May your charity increase as much as your wealth.”