Spoiler alert — it’s another COVID-19 related article! Skip this for now if you think you could no longer take more of it. I understand. We all understand. Well, who doesn’t?
The work-from-home arrangement for us teachers still materialized, however for just one straight week after that dawn of the month-long enhanced community quarantine. In short, we had all the days past working on a flexible sched (rushing up, actually) with the usual SHS end-of-school-year deliverables.
The school finally joined the crowd and left all e-learning channels for college in a ‘freeze’ mode. We’ll get back to them after this serious blizzard. Writing this, I have mine all emailed to the department head.
Social media have gone excessively satirical and disheartening as I have observed. With all the memes (tempting to get shared), people take their biases and slants to extremes, talking lately about the possible recall of local elective officials and even calling them bitter names. I don’t share anything though. It’s not helping at all. Most recently, the surfacing of asymptomatic politicians and VIPs (with all their family members) being allegedly prioritized for COVID-19 tests over the PUIs and PUMs has angered the public. What the heck!
Amidst all the bad news, the opportunists, the profiteers, and the curfew violators here and there, touching stories shared particularly on Facebook but reaffirm that humanity is never lost yet. See those viral posts about local celebrities and ordinary people trying to help others in their own ways. These are indeed heartwarming.
As of this writing, there are already 462 confirmed cases (33 deaths) of COVID-19 in the country. The number of PUIs and PUMs also continuously multiplies. What we need right now are our trademark values of ‘bayanihan’ and ‘malasakit.’ So, can we attend to those side issues after this?
Cutting these commentaries short, I tell you again — just stay at home for this too shall pass. I am affected, and so are you. You may not be part of the ‘frontliners’ as I am not. Let’s just obey the government then. While this blog is dedicated to personal finance and all, I think it’s good that we also reflect on and assess together our quarantine preparedness and some sort of household budget practices. Pause.
That was payday weekend, and I was on my usual Red Horse beer night when we all watched the live telecast of PRRD’s declaration of community quarantine. It wasn’t a typical announcement. It took over an hour, I could say.
We had less than two days to prepare. On my end, I did the usual weekly groceries — rice, meat (fish, fork, and chicken), vegetables, eggs, instant coffee, dried goods, cooking ingredients, toiletries, and other household cleaning products — however more of them this time. I spent more or less PHP2,000.00. I still had enough budget should the situation worsen. After all, I usually don’t have bills to foot in mid-month.
Whatever it is — a community quarantine or a total lockdown — ensuring enough food and personal care supplies is a must, no explanation needed. Then again, panic-buying and hoarding of supplies, which others do, are unavoidable, but totally unforgivable. See those shared photos of elders staring at aisles stripped bare. Those but capture heartbreaking realities!
Things got even worse on Monday. The absence of clear and properly disseminated guidelines for the working class resulted in confusion among all. Enhanced community quarantine and stricter measures all throughout the island of Luzon were dropped like bombs within the same day. Cities and municipalities laid their own quarantine measures. Except frontliners and basic services providers, all were constrained to STAY AT HOME. That meant no more reporting to work. That did not exempt me, of course.
Days and nights in the village have remained the same though, except that almost all people already stay most of the time inside (still a few can be seen outside) and sari-sari stores close at eight in the evening in observance of the curfew. What I love about our community here is that people are always casual, law-abiding, and disciplined. I don’t know about the case in other communities in the metropolis, though I see shared photos of people still gathering around in public places.
Tell me. What is not clear about the purpose of this community quarantine? People get infected. People die. People become asymptomatic carriers. Yes, it maybe a matter of immunity –who is healthy and who is not – but people seem not to care at all for the weak. Haisst, napakaraming pasaway!
While many feel totally bored staying at home 24/7, I find it but a big opportunity to focus on blogging (and watch Netflix series in between). That is one pro about it. I’ve got lots of topics to write about. If this enhanced quarantine would really last a month or even get extended (which I do not hope to happen), then I could write more and more. Blog, blog, blog!
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