THE world had 6.19 million Covid-19 cases as of Tuesday, June 2. Three hundred seventy six thousand deaths have been reported for the same period.
The United States accounts for 30 percent of the confirmed cases and a little less than that of the fatalities at 1.87 million and 108,000 thousand, respectively.
The Philippines has, as of the same date, logged a total 18,997 cases. Four thousand sixty three have recovered while 966 died.
I looked for the equivalent numbers in Cebu City for the same period but either I am a bad researcher or nobody really keep tabs of total cases and deaths on a daily basis.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, however, posted on Facebook the other day that the 1,660 Covid-19 patients have already recovered, leaving only 1,222 active cases. He also said that our case fatality rate remains at 1.12 percent. I am not good at mathematics so I will leave it to you to figure that out.
What is obvious, however, is that in terms of recovery and case fatality rates, ours are a lot better than the national record and even more so than the world and the US percentages.
And yet, here we are, still quibbling over whether it was a good idea to ease our quarantine restrictions and open more businesses while practically all over the US, people have been gathering by the thousands in massive and oftentimes violent protests over the murder of a colored person by a policeman.
I am not saying that we should throw caution to the wind like the Americans are doing by ignoring social distancing advice. But no less than the President has declared that the people’s freedom of movement should no longer be impeded by unnecessary regulations that local governments continue to insist should be followed.
The evil that the coronavirus brings consists not only in the possible death to the person afflicted but also by the concomitant rise in self-proclaimed experts and petty tyrants who have become so enamored with their new-found powers to regulate the exercise of the liberty of abode and could not stop their power-tripping despite the governor’s issuance of clear guidelines.
As for the experts who noisily proclaim that they are always right and the government is always wrong in their handling of the pandemic, here’s food for thought from business leader Bunny Pages:
“Instead of knocking down the decision to reopen the economy, let us support it. Instead of focusing on why this decision will turn out wrong, why don’t we all work together to make sure that it is the right one?
“Although we are not in the same boat, we are all in the same storm. We need to be united as a people with this singular thought—to win!”