WITH this uncertainty of whether Covid-19 will be contained the soonest possible time, a new normal in terms of work, travel, mobility, and the likes is now emerging. It is also a challenge all are now bracing and adjusting and only time can tell when this will be normalized. It may not be this year but we can always control it if the people will heed to the directives of the government summarized to just one phrase -- STAY HOME.

For many, it is a novel, a long theater play to understand and to absorb as it has really beyond anyone’s imagination that a disease as dreaded as this will hit the planet and caused and still causing havoc even to the established, rich and economically rich nations now registering hundreds of thousands infected and deaths. No one is above the disease, as of this writing in terms of our human capacity to fathom how it will be totally eradicated.

We have employed all sorts of controlling the mobility of people to arrest the spread of the disease. We started a community quarantine, we enhanced it, we modified it and now many will be under general community quarantine leaving some provinces and cities which are considered as high risk of causing outbreak to remain an ECQ until May 15.

DepEd is proposing for an August opening of classes but the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has proposed and was accepted by the President that September is the ideal month to open it. Though the IATF is considering that online classes may start anytime as it would not congregate school-age children who like the elderly and those with high-risk diseases are vulnerable to this disease.

It is now up to the final agreement among the IATF and the DepEd Execom on how they would deal with the proposal after thorough discussion and massive survey conducted to all education stakeholders nationwide. Health is now our topmost priority but with the recent development of relaxing the CQ in other provinces is also an indication that in achieving a healthy and sound mind and body, there should be food to be placed in the stomach from the salaries and wages or earnings of those who will be allowed to work or open businesses. As President Duterte is always saying, we don’t have an unlimited source of fund and if we continue to subsidize those who will not be allowed to work and open a business, then it will create a big blow to our economy which he said he also does not want to happen.

A number of health experts, scientists, planners, and economists were consulted on how things will possibly work for the rest of the months after lifting the ECQ and as long as the number of those who will be infected will be managed by our health workers and our hospitals have still capacity to take care of them, we will be able to halt the spread of the disease. In the same manner that if the IATF in all levels will be able to conduct considerable testing, properly placing to quarantine facilities those suspected, probable and Covid-19 positive who are asymptomatic and effective contact tracing of those who have associated with the positive patients and the entirety of Filipinos will be observing proper hygiene and protocols, we will be on the road to recovery.

We may be hoping for a miracle to happen in this time where everyone is anxious on what future lies ahead after Covid-19 or still with the disease but one thing we can do is to pray wherever and whenever we are to God Almighty who is the source of all goodness and the one who knows the meaning of this Pandemic we are experiencing. We may not get the answer now or a couple days, weeks, or months ahead but one thing is sure -- in every problem, there is always a solution.

This Corner hopes that many, if not all, will still be proactively doing their share in this trying time, whether we are front liners, back liners or home liners (if there is a term like this); whatever label we give to ourselves, it will be our share to our concerted efforts to end our battle against this unseen enemy. May God bless us all!