LAST week, about our Baguio lockdown. This week, more about that lockdown.
As of this writing, we have been quarantined for some 15 days or so. In those 15 days, some items have surfaced, as we expected them to.
First, since our town only recently received test kits, the testing has thus about just commenced, and likewise, so has clinical detection. Monday is the official date that the Department of Health (DOH) registered one Covid-19 positive case in Baguio, according to a Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Baguio release dated 24 March, Tuesday.
Second, there is the matter of what they call the “Huawei Artificial Intelligence CT Scan System which will test possible Covid-19 patients in the City.” Baguio City-zens have been looking forward to this machine, donated to our town through our good mayor.
The same Philippine Information Agency–Baguio release says, “Magalong announced recently that a new technology of Huawei company that helps doctors detect Coronavirus Disease will be operational soon at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.”
“The mayor said the AI analyzer is a diagnostic system that would help our doctors identify highly suspicious Covid-19 cases.”
As of this writing, the said system is up and running at the Baguio General Hospital, which we glean from one of the mayor’s official pages. I imagine that the machine is also being tested just as it is expected to test/detect infections among our citizenry. This column adds to the already many prayers all around that said system works, that detection can proceed with more speed than what we have seen in the past months, and that more lives can be saved as a result.
Third, there is the matter of our quarantine, which I say again is actually good for us. It’s just that we have to find ways and means to stay active both mentally and physically, get daily exercise, socialization, and what other matters keep us well.
I am writing this on Friday, the 27th of March, the date of my brother Dandan’s death last year. Today, we mark his death anniversary quietly, with candles lit for him and my other brother Matt, as well as for our father Andy. Today, if we were in normal mode, we would, of course, have family and friends over for lunch and touching base. We are however far from normal times right now. So let us get through this virus season, and pray to see each other safely at the other end of it. Then we can party, God willing.
For now, let us observe our quarantine and the necessary precautions that have been put in place, plant in our backyards, and say our prayers for a better Baguio. Hopefully, when this is all over, we shall sit across each other and get that drink.