REBOOT: A Year of Pandemic Existence

WRITTEN BY DESIREE A. CASTRO

Rotaract Club of Midtown QC

ast 2020, the novel Coronavirus, 2019-NCOV, or currently known as COVID-19, had an outbreak in all parts of the world. The COVID-19 of people around the globe. L is a contagious disease that has drastically changed the lives of millions The Philippines is one of those countries that still suffer from the impact of the pandemic. The response has been slow regarding the matter and led to where we are right now. At the beginning of the spread of the virus, many Filipinos were not aware. Many people continued with their lives as if nothing is happening. People are outdoors with friends, having a vacation, celebrating events, attending classes or working in offices. However, all of these changed in a blink of an eye. Today's living is very different from how it used to be. People are now enclosed in the four corners of their homes, constraining themselves from doing outdoor activities in hopes of being safe from the virus. The first case in the Philippines was two Chinese people who visited Wuhan, China. When brought to attention, it made people alarmed at the situation. After testing groups of people, the COVID-19 virus was confirmed to be in the country. Last March 12, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte has imposed a 30-day community quarantine. Most of the Filipinos considered this quarantine as a lockdown. Many establishments and sectors had to stop operations resulting in people losing their jobs. The community quarantine was supposed to last until April last year. However, the quarantine was extended for too long. Now, the Philippines is known for being one of the countries with the longest lockdowns.

The quarantine has several phases: Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), having a strict regulation to people, businesses, and most of the services; the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), is a transition of quarantine between ECQ and GCQ, it is a regulation that is moderated. Next, the General Community Quarantine has strict rules to follow to an extent. Lastly, the Modified General Community Quarantine limits the movement of the public, but with more ease.

The phases of the quarantine changes, its protocols, or regulations, but our country's cases remain increasing up until now.

This month of March, we celebrate the anniversary of the lockdown in our country. Most people are used to the setup we have, wearing a mask and a face shield, social distancing, and often disinfection. Yet, there are Filipinos who continuously suffer in this challenging time.

The quarantine protocols we observed from the previous year seem to happen again for this year. We thought that the end of this pandemic is near. But it is not; we are just starting all over again.

COVID19 UPDATE IN THE PHILIPPINES