I’VE been cooped up inside my house for more than a month now and it has left me with frayed nerves.
I’m sure I’m not the only one.
The whole of Cebu and other parts of the country have been placed in enhanced community quarantine, which is short of a lockdown, since the end of March as a result of the highly infectious coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Many, if not most, probably feel the same as I do.
It’s not like I’m totally incarcerated. I, and the rest of the population who carry a legitimate quarantine pass or not, can still go out to make “essential” errands like buying food and medicines. But it’s just not the same.
It’s not that I had an exciting life before all of this happened because, trust me, “exciting” would not be the word I’d use to describe it.
Still, I miss my pre-Covid routine, which was meeting friends at the oval, jogging, walking to the office. Day in. Day out.
I told you my life was boring, but at least it was mine to lead.
God, I sound so freaking spoiled. But hey, spoiled people have feelings too.
I mean, I could have written about the postponed rapid mass testing in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, but what’s the point? It’ll probably get rescheduled anyway.
Or why local health experts are so gung-ho about this rapid antibody-based diagnostic test (RDT) that will be used for the activity.
Is it because you can’t really tell if a person has severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes Covid-19, with the RDT?
They all admit that the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) test is the “gold standard” in Covid-19 diagnostics, although Mary Jean Loreche, a medical specialist-pathologist at the Department of Health-Central Visayas, points out that the RT PCR, like the RDT, is not foolproof.
So if that’s the case, then why go through with the mass testing if the results can’t be trusted? Because that’s what Loreche is basically saying.
And don’t get me started on Juanito Zuasola, an epidemiologist at the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit 7, who said that “the usefulness and significance of RDT is when the test results are placed in the proper perspective.”
Seriously?
He said the RDT can detect antibodies, either immunoglobulin G or immunoglobulin M, that will help medical personnel identify persons who need to undergo an RT PCR.
Like I or your regular Juan or Maria would know what he’s talking about. Actually, I do, but you know what I mean?
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I was whining...