IT IS NOT only the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that qualifies as a pandemic today. In a sense, the global response to it, panic, has become a “pandemic” by itself.
While this corner has repeatedly written about COVID, I have always cautioned against allowing panic to becloud our sensibility; it could be worse than the feared disease. Based on scientific studies, panic could engender long-term effects such as cardio-vascular diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.
Statistics seem scary. Imagine, as of yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 4,986,332 as the total number of COVID cases, of which 326,910 have died.
The Philippines’ share was listed as 12,942 cases in almost four months, starting from Jan. 30, 2020 with a 38-year-old female Chinese national reported as the first local case.
The coronavirus disease was unknown before it broke out in Wuhan City, China in December 2019.
Of the aforementioned 12,942 cases, 837 have died and the rest have either recovered or still trying to recover.
It’s bad news. But in a country of 110 million Filipinos, why blow 837 deaths out of proportion?
Records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show an average of 1,500 Filipinos dying daily – or 45,000 per month, or 540,000 per year.
Scaled down to Iloilo City which has a population approaching half a million residents, the total number of confirmed cases so far is only 17, of which nine have recovered, seven still active and only one dead.
If I have refused to join the “bandwagon” waiting for the availability of a vaccine before calming down, it’s because the wait could cause stress. All doctors agree that stress weakens the immune system, which is our best defense against COVID at the moment.
The little we know so far is that coronavirus may only be spread from a person’s saliva or phlegm in the form of droplets entering somebody else’s mouth, nose or eyes. This is the logic behind wearing mask, physical distancing, disinfecting hands with alcohol and washing them with soap and water.
The universally-accepted lockdown – or community quarantine which restricts movement of people – stems from the idea that COVID could be “asymptomatic” or showing no symptoms like cough, fever, diarrhea or colds. Hence, an asymptomatic carrier does not know he has it and is capable of infecting others.
Gov. Art Defensor Jr. (Iloilo province) once mentioned “the riddle of the asymptomatic” in a radio interview. It is hard to believe that a victim of a deadly disease could still swagger fully alive and kicking.
I bet the governor has not personally known an asymptomatic COVID patient infecting anybody.
However, Cong. Janette Garin (1st District, Iloilo), a former Health secretary, has been referring to various studies saying that 40 to 50 percent of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic.
Was Education secretary Leonor Briones, 79, asymptomatic when she tested COVID-positive on April 8?
Was she healed only four days later on April 12 when she tested negative?
While not fully lifted, nationwide lockdowns have loosened up. In Iloilo City, we call it “general community quarantine,” allowing public transportation with limited number of passengers and opening business establishments where physical distancing is manageable.
Some people want extended lockdown due to fear of a “second wave” that might overwhelm our healthcare system, as in other countries that have “relaxed” and suffered two or three times more casualties.
The United States ranks No. 1 in the number of COVID cases that have hit 1.5 million.
That must be reason enough for President Donald Trump to worry about his re-election bid on Nov. 3, 2020. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
