Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, you might have had this experience. Sometime after lunch, you pass somebody in the hallway. They look as if they have been crying.
Later on, other people notice that the “crying person” is rubbing his or her eyes. Suddenly, an alarm goes out and two security guards escort that person out of the building not to return for two or three days.
Viral conjunctivitis or “sore eyes” in the Philippines is a miserable illness. The pain is terrible. Every time you blink, you feel like someone is rubbing your eyeballs with sandpaper. The misery comes in two parts. Your eyes itch to the point that you want to tear them out and just learn Braille.
But after a couple of days, you return to work bearing the mark of a “sore eyes victim.” You wear
sunglasses.
The sunglasses serve several purposes. People know not to get too close to you. They keep you from touching your eyes until you are totally cured. It is absolutely a myth that looking into the eyes of a person with conjunctivitis will infect you. But who wants to take the chance.
Feeling concerned and worried now during this Covid-19 pandemic is normal. In fact if you aren’t troubled, you are probably not normal. Regardless of all the data of low fatality and “it’s a bad flu,” that does not mean a thing to the people that might have to attend your wake.
Feeling confused is also normal since government, the medical community, and the media have gone out of their way to convince us (by their actions) that they do not have a clue what is really going on. Their words are cheap. Only mentally challenged “sheeple” would believe that all the facts are in and that we have been told “the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
This is not in any way about all the theories about evil Bill Gates and the end of the world. This is about not having enough information about a disease that has gone from—as I said before—“It’s no problem” to “We’re all gonna die!”
“Sore eyes” was an epidemic in the Philippines, hitting two or three times a year and sending home 10 percent of your staff. DOH advised on how to avoid getting the illness. See if this sounds familiar: 1. Don’t touch your eyes. 2. Wash your hands often. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub. 3. Maintain a safe distance from anyone who has symptoms. 4. Stay home if you feel unwell.
I fully embrace the idea of wearing a mask right now because—like wearing sore eyes sunglasses—it is a reminder that we are living in dangerous times. And do not tell me masks are useless. I do not want a contest between my 314 sources that say I am right and your 313 that say I am wrong.
Contracting cirrhosis from alcoholism, lung cancer from smoking, STD, hypertension from being obese, and now Covid-19 is the result of the choices we make, not an “Act of God.”
I have not been out of my house for 141 days. And I am painfully counting each passing day. But with YouTube and my treadmill, I am constantly walking around the world. My choice.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.