Covid-19 has rewritten the rules of everyday life. I have friends that suffered from the nightmare and after-effects of Covid-19. I also have a friend and several acquaintances that succumbed to the illness.
However, I have unofficially ended my personal six-month quarantine. No longer will I accept that the choice is either the “economy or health.” That is the nonsense of those that have promoted a false dichotomy, the choice between two things that are mutually exclusive. Literally, millions have been told that if the economy was opened up so that they could return to their jobs, they could easily pay the
ultimate price.
This is the first time in world history that healthy people—not just the sick—were in lockdown. The reason is obvious; all governments were unable to identify the sick quickly enough to remove them from the healthy population. Further, the age demographics globally all say the same thing. Old people—like me—and old and sick people—not like me—needed a strong quarantine, as I have written as early as January 31 and February 7.
In the Philippines, 62.3 percent of all Covid deaths are individuals 60 years and older. The purpose of the quarantine was not necessarily to “save lives” but to prevent the number of critically sick from overwhelming the health-care system. It worked.
However, there is no indication we were near that point unlike in other countries. Even at the height of ICU and isolation bed usage, we had situations where a major hospital was “overwhelmed” but had only seven ICU beds devoted to Covid patients.
The press loves the drama: “34 of 136 NCR coronavirus hospitals under ‘danger’ level” on September 25. Here is the “danger.” Asian Hospital has 47 ICU beds that were 100 percent full. But three days later it was down to 36 percent. Makati Medical Center was 100 percent occupied but has only five Covid ICU beds. The University of Santo Tomas Hospital was also “fully booked” with two ICU beds and five isolation beds. Strange how the actual numbers are left out of the reporting. Then the headline is “Nine in 10 Pinoys scared of getting Covid-19.” I wonder why?
My travels this last weekend around Metro Manila were enlightening and depressing, and “Boracay Beach on the Bay” is great and we should hope it works as planned.
SM Hypermarket at MOA was packed. But it took an hour to check out as half the cashier lines were closed. They cannot get their employees to work. Wilcon Depot’s average daily sales in July surpassed pre-ECQ levels. But then the “economy or health” experts shut us down for two weeks in August and killed everything. SM Prime Holdings reports sales of its tenants are now back to 60 percent of pre-Covid level. How much more if restaurants can actually have a full complement of servers and cooks, not to mention table space?
“Mayors, experts want steady Covid-19 decline before MGCQ.” Now define “steady” and “decline.” The 7-day Moving Average of new cases on August 10 was 4,283. On September 25 it was below 1,500. You may say those numbers are not accurate, but that is the data the mayors are using to make
decisions.
It is time to go back to work even with the risk. The opening of provincial bus lines is a start. For me, a six-month lockdown is enough. I do not want to read any more headlines like “Hunger levels at 30 percent—historic high.” I am going to Silang for lunch on Saturday wearing mask and shield and I will leave a big tip.
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