Kneejerk reaction. "a sudden involuntary reflex kick caused by a blow on the tendon just below the knee"
When you hit the tendon on your knee, the tendency of the leg is to kick. No thinking necessary. It just involuntarily moves up.
The response of the government to the cries for help of medical workers is like a knee-jerk.
So we go now to MECQ again - no dine-in restaurants, no jeepneys, no tricycles. Everybody stays home.
The problem with Covid 19 is that it can be avoided, or stopped in its tracks given very creative approaches. But definitely, inhibiting general mobility is not good.
Mobility is important for people, especially for the elderly. We need to be able to exercise our muscles and move our joints. Now confining us to the house may be good but given a small space, slowly we could develop decrepit bodies which could lead to being an invalid.
Youngsters also need mobility, especially our millennials who are used to fraternizing or developing deep friendships with the opposite sex. Eventually, they could lapse into depression should they be prohibited from getting out of the home.
Limit the hours
What should be done is to limit the number of hours that people can be out in the streets. For example, seniors and youngsters may move around only in the mornings. Then afternoons, they should not be allowed to be seen anymore in the streets. In this way, they will be able to breathe fresh air, sunbathe, and develop a sunny disposition instead of depressed. The wet season make the rains arrive in the afternoons. Hence being out in the mornings is great.
Dine-in
Restaurants should be allowed to offer dining in but only on one person per table only. That should keep out any close contacting even between couples. Pasensiya na. Pahinga muna ang loverly ideas.
I really bat for opening of restaurants because it is very hard for me to cook at home. And many folks I am sure would prefer going to their favorite restaurants to eat no matter how short the time allotted for it.
Thirdly, restaurants must offer foods that can be easily cooked so that the diners need not linger too long inside.
Jeepney transport
Fourthly, jeepney transportation must be maintained – as the drivers have already developed a system of preventing passengers from having too close contacts. Jeepney mobility is important for workers, vendors, professionals who cannot afford to take a cab all the time. Besides the jeepney drivers also must generate their daily income.
I think we must make people feel that they could still travel from one place to another. Not everyone can be holed up in their homes. Mobility is a must, especially for the urban poor.
Transmission
By the way, how does the transmission of Covid 19 happen? The DOH put this reminder up in the internet:
"Remember, COVID-19 is only spread through respiratory droplets coughed by an infected person. Therefore, if an infected person does not cough, he/she most likely will not infect others. However, many infected persons only experience mild symptoms. This is particularly true at the early stages of the disease. It is, therefore, possible to get COVID-19 from an infected person with a mild cough but is not feeling ill."
Ergo, really close contact could cause the spread of the virus.
Now if you look at our streets, there is not much chance to get the virus unless you hug a person, or converse with them lengthily, or maintain close contact for a long period.
The environment is not the total problem. It is the way people relate with each other that causes possible transmission of the virus.
At a mall, I feel ill always after going there. The ceiling is high but there is something wrong with the exhaust pipes I think. These should be cleaned up. And air should circulate, not just cold air from the air conditioning units. I am thinking that there should be windows that would allow hot air inside to blow away the virus that really lingers inside cool conditions.
I don't feel ill when I go to this other mall as the air seems to circulate well.
Exhaust fans
Also, I have an approach to kill the virus. We could place exhaust fans in the streets to blow it up to the skies. These fans would be placed across the streets on even level with the electric wires. Say, for Aurora Boulevard, we could have several exhaust fans sucking up the virus and blowing it upwards. I want to know what the DOST thinks of this idea.
Uniforms
Whoever developed the idea that the police should be in SWAT or fatigue uniform? Their appearance doubles the fear that we feel. First we are afraid of catching Covid 19. Then the fatigued uniform makes us feel as if someone is being hunted down or could be shot at anytime.
I think that they should wear uniform of a sunny color not this olive green that covers their whole body. Then the police all carry firearms as if the people will be defended from a real war, whereas the enemy is invisible.
So what for is that war-like get up if not to scare us into submission?
Knee-jerk reactions should be reassessed. Even the appointment of that guy in the DOH I am sure was done without much assessment if he would be capable of handling it. the fact that he had to be quarantined during the beginning of the entry of the virus in our midst, shows his shortsighted view of the problem.
Let us show a stronger will and strength to face this virus. But not in the manner that would scare us out of our wits.
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