Essentials

By Netnet Camomot .

A FRIEND said Pinas could have stopped Covid-19 from entering the country since it’s easier to isolate in its 7,641 islands.

Travelers have to fly or cross oceans before reaching any of those islands, thus, my friend’s wishful thinking on how easy it would have been to keep the virus away.

But the Pinoy is friendly, he welcomes anyone into his home, he loves fiestas, he parties daily, complete with lechon if such a grand celebration is possible daily.

“No man is an island,” as the saying goes, and the Pinoy’s friendliness is proof of that.

And he can be fatalistic in practicing the minimum public health standards. Bahala na si Batman. Life is short. You only live once.

The pandemic was supposed to be a learning experience to help people realize that each of them could be an island. Oh, well.

While some citizens of the world are now enjoying vacations in their travel-bubble countries, Pinas will continue to be included in travel bans if Covid-19 cases here remain high. The Pinoy can only wish that the miracle cure does work while he waits for the vaccine. That will hopefully help in controlling the country’s cases and protect him from the virus as he goes out for work, essential errands, and the coping mechanisms that are essential for his mental health.

If I see staying home and diets as sacrifices, then I’ll wake up miserable every day. It’s a matter of tweaking, turning 180 degrees, and treating these as being kind to myself for a change. I now know what’s essential.

The pandemic is not called as the old normal. It’s the new normal. Face masks, face shields. But many people have forgotten the importance of physical distancing especially now that vaccines and miracle cures are already available.

There will come a time when pharmacies here will be allowed to sell Covid-19 vaccines. Better that than miracle cures, right?

Mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. But Covid-19 matters even if you ignore it. It has caused business closures, job losses, deaths. Some families now have empty chairs at their dining table. If these families are the same ones that suffered through business closures and job losses, then, they’re going through the grim truth behind the new normal, the side that other people refuse to see.

The difference between 2020 and 2021 is the availability of the Covid-19 plus the miracle cure. That’s the reason people are now more confident in attending parties and other gatherings even if some—or most—of them have not been fully vaccinated yet. I guess the feeling is the same as not studying for an exam but with the brightest in class as your seatmate, you can always hope he will allow you to copy his answers.

I still cringe each time I see photos of any gathering. The new Covid-19 variants are highly transmissible, and more could be mutating as the virus hops from one host to the next.

And some people still write this as their comment to those photos posted on Facebook: stay safe. And I’m like, really? We still have to remind them to stay safe? The pandemic has been here for more than a year now, and we still have to tell people to stay safe? What exact part of staying safe do they still have to understand?

It will take Pinas years to vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of its 110.59-million population. Herd immunity will then become possible once that’s achieve na achieve. The way the country’s current vaccination program is going, however, we can only keep our fingers crossed that traveling to other countries will be safer in 2023.

If only Pinas closed its airports and seaports before Covid-19 could enter any of its 7,641 islands.

Well, what if it did? Then it would have zero cases now, and the Pinoy could travel from one island to the next sans face mask and face shield. Our own travel bubble inside Pinas as the Pinoy hops from El Nido to Coron, Ilocos, Batanes, Boracay, Siargao, etc. Instead of Covid-19 hopping from one Pinoy to the next.

The economy could have continued as usual. There won’t be business closures and job losses—well, except for ABS-CBN, but that’s another story.