Covid-19 is beginning to sound or look personal. Nope, I’m a recovering patient, but not of Covid-19.
I was hospitalized on January 12, 2020 but of cerebellar stroke. But I have traveled to Shenzhen China back in 1995, to Taiwan as a stop-over in 1994 en route back to Manila. I have also passed by Narita, Japan in 2005 as my connecting flight to the USA. The last I was in Hong Kong was in 2017. Those were ho-hum even boring travels. Been there done that after a while.
South Korea has never been in my bucket list. The last time I was stopped for a thermometer read was in 2013 at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome at the height of the SARS scare.
SARS, a life-threatening respiratory disease caused recently identified coronavirus by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control associated with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV).
I have been a frequent official traveler in Rome for FAO events. One time, I dared not even cough for fear I might be detained by the airport caribinieri. Otherwise I was declared healthy anywhere else.
Those were the panic-free days of international and domestic travel. Free from pandemics.
Now it’s a different world. No less than the UN’s World Health Organization against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks.
In general, evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations and may divert resources from other interventions. Furthermore, restrictions may interrupt needed aid and technical support, may disrupt businesses, and may have negative social and economic effects on the affected countries. However, in certain circumstances, measures that restrict the movement of people may prove temporarily useful, such as in settings with few international connections and limited response capacities.
There are now confirmed cases of Covid-19 in every EU country, figures from the European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control show, with Italy—the worst affected country outside China—now entirely on lockdown.
Now the Italian government has enforced nationwide lockdown, affecting around 60 million people. Schools and universities are currently shut.
So now I don’t expect any official invitation to attend any international invites to conferences from the Mountain Partnership. Nor that I’m looking forward to any travels soon.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday banned all travels to, from and within Italy unless for work or health reasons. Several European airlines continue to cancel flights to Italy amid lower demand, including EasyJet, Ryanair and British Airways. Cheap travels might be pointless if you are not allowed to travel to your destination.
Now my niece Josa Kriska “Coco” Berona sent me over a message on Facebook-Messenger that the American government might not allow her to visit the Philippines in May. Or even allow her to return in the USA as a Special Education teacher and iterant teacher among the Navajo people.
We can run but where to go in the world?