Augustinian the
FEATURES FOLD Volume LXVI • Number 4 SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
USA PUB PHOTO • rOTSen c. AgredA
TALES TO TELL THE LIVING
Livin g i n a t ime w h er e f r e e d o m k i l l s , a d a w n of a 21s t c e ntury p ande mic . BY JEFF G. TOLENTINO
A flicker of light found their way into her eyes, she turned her head as to resist her surfacing consciousness. “Not today,” she told herself while letting a sigh counter the serenading birds for her alarm clock never broke. Today was one of the days she opened her eyes with the sun in her sight, her body need not know the coldness a bath would give, nor feel the salty wind kissing her face as she travels with half her being wanting not to. A week has passed since everything halted. She was living in the midst of a pandemic and everything was not how it used to be – her world, just like everyone else’s is suspended indefinitely. It was late in December 2019 when China reported an investigating of an outbreak of viral pneumonia originating in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. Two weeks later the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified a novel coronavirus as a causative agent of the disease. It was later named as COVID-19 and has spread globally making it thepandemic of the 21st century.
ATYPICAL BEGINNINGS “It was like waking up in a completely new world every morning. The streets once teeming with people and vehicles are now empty. Jeepneys used to honk endlessly to pave their way into the crowd but now, nothing honked at all. Industries shut down. Classes suspended. It would seem that everything halted,” shared Gabriel Angel Guileno, a stud On the 16th of March 2020 in an effort to contain the spread
of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, the Philippine government has imposed restrictions in domestic and international travels. Businesses closed down and traffic plummeted. With 98 confirmed cases of coronavirus at that time the government implemented an enhanced community quarantine in the entire of Luzon. Seeing the need to secure their own borders, the rest of the country followed. Everyone stayed home. WHO has established protocols in the containment of the virus. Community quarantine, physical distancing and continuous testing were among them. To further spread awareness of how to stop the disease WHO released some guidelines on its prevention. These would include: handwashing, wearing or mask, and avoidance of unnecessary physical contact such as handshaking.
COVID-19 ON SCALE The full potential of the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to reveal itself. Although with various
projections on global death toll, the conclusion is still out of hand. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention by the first week of June 2020 death toll would most likely exceed 115,000 in the United States alone. While global projection is still inconclusive. Citing histroical statistics to compare the great plagues in history such as the bubonic plague which killed 200 million people, the smallpox with deaths totaling to 56 million and the Spanish flue with 30-50 million death tolls, COVID-19 still has a long way to scale but is doing so rapidly unless a vaccine is discovered. The bubonic plague was hailed as the worst in history took place on the 17th to the 19th century where knowledge of diseases and their causative agents were scarce. It was only by the end of the 19th century that Alexandre Yersin, a French biologist, discovered the bacillus Yersinia pestis – the cause of the three deadliest bubonic plague that wiped civilizations and reduced the populations of great cities to half. If our time has one advantage, that would be our profound knowledge and understanding of diseases and the advancement in the field of medicine. An advantage reaped from countless trials and years of drawbacks. “Plagues in history are about the worst times of human civilizations. I have only read of millions of people who died in
that era, the bodies that decorated the streets of Constantinople during the bubonic plague and half of their population annihilated. I never imagined I’ll live through one,” Guileno added.
WHAT LIES AHEAD Humans over the years have co-existed with microorganisms. In comparison, microorganisms have learned to adapt with human beings in a way of evolution. Some have resulted in development in industries and healthcare itself while others have been primed by time for mass annihilation. Whatever may be the outcome,
COVID-19 emphasized that humanity must never be too complacent. Despite development in the field of medicine, as dynamic as it is, the micro world is still too broad to understand. Vaccines are yet to be made on existing health concerns and lives are still lost. Take for example Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which has claimed 36 million lives since the 1980’s and continues to do so. After decades of research on a vaccine, one is yet to surface. Before humanity knew existence and civilizations thrived,
the world of microorganisms has long been existing. Throughout mankind’s recorded history, it has killed more people than the two great world wars. In a changed world where the field of medicine has greatly improved, a Pandora’s box has yet to reveal its secrets – a dormant threat for another pandemic awaiting to be unearthed – or made. “This is a day I could get used to,” she said. A day to remember and get used to for the tale of a 21st century pandemic has just began. And not everyone lives to tell the tale.
ForuM • PAg e B3
FeaTure • PAg e B 5
sPecTacle • PAge B7
Community Qua(rant)ined
unraVeLLinG tHe unStoPPaBLe
reBorn CLaSSiC For tHe neW era
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Augustinians express their thoughts on government’s mitigation plans against this crisis.
A closer look at the unending pursuit of excellence of the USA Publications as they add another feather in their cap.
Gergwig casts her adoration of Alcotts’ 150 year old novel, preserving the March sisters on-the-book heart and soul, while giving them new perspective.