THE 45-day lockdown in Luzon has brought untold misery to many, if not all.
Despite the relief goods distributed periodically, coming from the barangay and sometimes from the local government plus the meager cash assistance, many sectors feel the weight of idleness and loss of income due to the lingering threat of Covid-19.
Deaths are recorded almost daily and health authorities are still clueless as to when this illness will finally be vanquished and driven away.
The efforts of the frontliners are welcome and cheered on by the populace but even they suffer casualties, courtesy of Covid-19. It is disheartening to hear of reports that even doctors who were supposed to know of this illness succumb to the very illness they are trying to combat and fight off with their adequate knowledge of the disease.
But still, they fall, like other patients, to this dangerous silent killer, this malady which has victimized almost 2 million (and counting) people worldwide. Never have so many suffered due to this disease, and we continue to struggle with it.
The daily wage earners suffer most as the daily earnings they bring home suddenly stopped. PUV drivers, including tricycle and pedicab drivers lament the work stoppage and the sudden loss of their passengers.
Office workers, government employees and other earners feel the brunt of the lockdown which deprive them of their liberty to move about unrestricted. They, like the daily wage earners, are now barely surviving and wishing for normalcy.
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In retrospect, we question the imposition of the lockdown. Was it necessary at all? Did it provide safety for all of us vis-a-vis the massive losses we have to suffer? Are our authorities looking beyond the effects of the malady and consider nor extending anymore the lockdown?
We pine to have normalcy in our lives. We want to live normally, free to go about our routines and earn our living.
Can the authorities consider our plight or leave us struggling? These are important reasons they have to factor in in their decisions.