In Asia, we can find a lot of quotations that help us in living our lives on earth. Mahatma Gandhi* of India said something that is very important for us today: "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."
Covid 19 is pressing us to revert to the real aim in life -- to have a long life, to take care of our bodies, emotions and minds and to pursue a spiritual life, one that is morally upright.
As we look at our existence in the Philippines, we will find that the development we have pursued has made us very vulnerable to this crisis that Covid 19 has brought to us. How have we shaped our farms, towns and cities?
The style of development of our cities and other areas is geared more to an individualistic pursuit, and not communal. Residences are subdivided into lots, and if the owners are wealthy, they build up tall fences to prevent thieves and UZIs or snoops into their lives.
What is the style of Covid 19?
1. Covid is invisible. It attacks a person, a group of people which could display or not display symptoms at all. And so as we walk along the streets or hallways, we never know who is already infected with Covid 19; and
2. Covid 19 cure is expensive. It requires tracing, testing and then curing. Since it came at this time, we are caught flat-footed on how to deal with it. It is really something new whose origins are still being debated upon -- whether Wuhan lab-grown or something developed in one laboratory in the United States.
We as ordinary citizens are agog because we really need to depend on scientists and medical doctors for treatment. It is not an ordinary headache which we could ease through taking a simple tablet.
Covid 19 requires a highly scientific approach for curing.
What are the effects of Covid 19?
1. We are now under lockdown. Our movements are limited, in fact frozen, as we now have to stay at home to prevent infecting others or getting infected from individuals, who may or may not be known to us;
How funny that Hippocrates, Greek physician in Classical Greece aptly said: "If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him."
Everyone will get well if we don't associate physically with each other, the first reason why the authorities caution us to be socially distant due to Covid 19. So those who cannot live without being close to another being, whether intimate or not, will not get well;
2. Our economic pursuits are crippled as important services and goods are inaccessible; Simple marketing is a tedious effort. Worse, unscrupulous vendors jack up the prices of their products;
3. The way we relate to each other- by social distancing - is really out of this world. This is really something that strikes at the very root of what being human or humane is -- which is relating to people. Our communicating with others is highly guarded already. Handshaking and besobeso are a no-no. Spontaneity is no longer appreciated;
4. Then Covid 19 patients are separated from relatives, isolated; even should they be in the throes of death, relatives cannot come any nearer. This is resolved by some hospitals which offer E-dalaw as in PGH, or relatives communicating with their patient-relatives through video calls and the like. Only after being cremated are they united again with them. Ridiculous;
5. Our social life is truly upside down. We have to be cautious about meeting people, talking to them, and even expressing our feelings for them;
6. Our schools are also locked down. What knowledge are the children missing? What skills? What talents are going to waste from disuse? How will they plan their future?
7. Economically, our workers and professionals are losing their salaries; their lifelines. They are not able to save for the future because their companies have closed;
And so many more.
Greatest of all effects is that the government is forced to spend billions of pesos in order to finance the people's needs.
In other words, the structures we have built in our society are not able to respond to the horrific effects of the crisis in such a way that we could still live in the usual normal way - normal means our being able to move about and relate to people and things the usual way, spontaneous and not as the need arises.
This should make us rethink how to structure our landscape. Instead of big cities with partitions which only spawn fragmented lives, we must go towards building clusters of villages, where everybody knows each other; where the place is self-contained; where everyone is helpful of one another, where it would be easy to contain diseases, and so much more. The place is also a provider of work, rest and recreation, unlike now where we have to travel or move to another place either to market, or to a mall to find recreation.
Village: More Meaningful Place for Living
Some definitions are in order:
"A village may be a place in a city or a rural area where residents know each other; or feel socially connected."
It is environmentally clean, with sustainable land, and where residents feel responsible in maintaining it.
It has the schools for the children, local shops, parks, utility services, and all other activities can be had and enjoyed. It promotes the health and well-being of everyone. Government services are available.
Absent this social structure, or maybe they exist in some enclaves, how do we deal now with our present problem?
Whatever we do now, we should insure that they are things which will be useful for us after Covid 19. All the activities that are being promoted now like hand-washing are acts that need to be ingrained in our lifestyle. Not shaking hands, or not kissing and hugging, or not spitting just anywhere, or covering our mouths and nose when sneezing or coughing, and the like are acts that are worthwhile keeping or maybe the first three are worthwhile resuming when the disease is truly controllable already.
Meanwhile, how should the lockdown be transformed? First we must consider that where people congregate is where Covid 19 is bound to be. So we should stop that.
How?
On Dealing with the Malls
Malls could be difficult to open because transmission could be very easy here due to airconditioning. If a mall has five floors, then, people milling around could catch the disease everywhere. It is unfortunate that this is the place most favored by the young and old for whiling away their time. Yet despite their containing essential services that everybody needs whether from high or low income, it is imperative to stick by our rules for containing the virus.
Moviehouses are also difficult to open because here, the people gather together for two hours to finish watching a movie. Coughing and sneezing are prevalent here, and so could produce a very unhealthy atmosphere.
Renting out video movies or watching through youtube would be the best answer to movie bugs.
LOITERING OR MILLING AROUND INSIDE MALLS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO DO THAT.
Other Parts of the Malls that Can be Opened
As malls also have some important stores like celfone repair and sales, then customers may be allowed in Iin limited number. The customers may ask the watcher at the mall gate to contact the store and inform them of their entry. Then numbers shall be assigned them for entry at a designated time or when convenience warrants.
Ordering from Restaurants
Restaurants must not have dining customers. Instead, customers may order online and bring these home. This is to prevent socializing while eating. In China, it was found that Covid 19 was transmitted at restaurants where families had dined.
At malls, there are open spaces where dining is allowed in front of small foodstores. I don't really know how safe it would be to use them now.
Factories, Offices
The DOLE must get a plan from each company or factory that will open and submit it before opening for approval. The plan must contain the placing of workers/employees so that social distancing is observed. Moreover, each worker or employee must be checked before entering the office or building if they do not exhibit those symptoms of sick patients.
Workers and employees must be ferried by the company to and from their homes or points where they could easily go home. Or transport for going home must be insured for them. They must not be allowed to roam around after work.
Drivers and conductors of the company buses must be given PPEs to protect them properly.
Talking inside the bus or chatting in the office should be minimized.
In other words, this is a serious way of dealing with the crisis.
Shopping/Ordering for Food
To prevent clustering, let us employ VIRTUAL QUEUING. What is that?
Virtual queuing has been described as a method for not-closing in when purchasing goods and services. For example, in a mall nearby, people need not enter the grocery part of the mall. The mall can instead have a counter near the main entrance where people can submit their orders and allow the workers to gather them from the grocery for them. Then the total purchase will be given them by masked service workers and in turn, they will give the payment to complete the transaction.
WHICH BARANGAYS TO UNLOCK?
Suggested criteria for unlocking a barangay in NCR are:
1. Has no more or at least below five, incidences of Covid 19 cases;
2. Has strict regulation of social distancing;
3. Has firm control of entrance and exit of residents and visitors to their area;
4. Has 24-7 watchers over social distancing and quarantining;
5. Each resident is willing to inform when he/she will return, and with whom;
6. Each resident/visitor may be checked for symptoms upon entrance and exit;
7. Has stocks of food -- fresh and manufactured- available for residents, or nearby. The availability is to insure that the residents need not go out far to purchase their essentials at home;
8. Has an ambulance or transport ready to carry residents who may exhibit symptoms to hospitals;
9. Has no notorious history of violations of quarantining and social distancing, among others; and
10. Has communication facilities that are A-1, both celfones and landlines.
This should encourage other barangays to observe rules so that they can experience freedom of movement or of being unlocked down.
We cannot talk of lifting the lockdown by cities because each city has characteristics different from each other. For example, while Quezon City has the highest number of Covid 19 cases, there are barangays here that are free from the virus. And so unlocking could be done by barangay, not by cities.
The narrower we deal with the problem, the better.
"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it. – Marianne Williamson
Sa bawa't komunidad, may gawaing dapat gampanan. Sa bawa't bansa, may mga sugat na dapat hilumin. Sa bawa't puso, may kapangyarihang gawin ito. - – Marianne Williamson
*Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (/ˈɡɑːndi, ˈɡændi/; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British Rule, and in turn inspire movements for civil rights
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