US PRESIDENT Donald Trump announced that he and his wife, Melania, had been tested positive for Covid-19. CNN reports that he was brought to a hospital to be treated and is closely being monitored by his doctors.
Before his announcement, he attended many activities at the White House and campaign sorties as part of the coming presidential elections in the United States next month. He has been in close contact with senators and other officials who joined in their meetings.
Trump was criticized for his handling of the Covid-19 crisis in the US, which resulted in the death of thousands of Americans. He is also being accused of not following the suggestions of his health advisers, not only on the ways to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 among Americans but as a supposed part of even protecting himself as leader of the most powerful country in the world.
As this happened to Trump, to recall, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned communities of the world that there is danger in complacency. It is dangerous, according to WHO, when people would only consider the presence of Covid-19 when they are lining up in hospitals waiting for available space for confinement.
This makes a good case for Filipinos to look at the effects when we become passive as to the existence of the coronavirus.
There is danger when our politicians would fail to appreciate the urgency of their actions and to ensure that these actions are really meant to protect the people and provide solutions against the spread of the virus.
I hope our people are conscious enough to see the difference in acting for the sake of solving a problem and simply acting for the sake of justifying existence.
The other side is on our people’s mindset that compliments with that of their leaders as the usual case we saw in the Philippine setting.
We are actually exposed to many situations where our leaders’ actions do not connect with reality. Likewise, our people also do not mind whatever control measures our government imposes to fight the disease.
The world report on Covid-19 cited the United States, known as the world’s superpower, as leading many countries in terms of the number of infections. It is also very unusual to say that the most powerful country in the world is having the highest number of infections. Worst, the most powerful man, their president, was the latest victim of the coronavirus.
This could help many societies ponder on the state of Covid-19. Even the most secure family and structure of government could be invaded by the disease.
The message was clear when Cebu, the closest province to us, experienced how the number of infections rose to a very alarming situation.
In Bacolod, we share the same situation. We knew of friends closest to us who even live in isolated subdivisions infected with the coronavirus. And yes, some of them also died.
We have proven many months ago in this fight that when there is a disconnect between government and people, we will all end up becoming victims of the virus.
The local transmissions, if not thwarted earlier, could end up in our community and family. We need to learn some lessons in the experience of the US and our very recent experience of the increasing number of cases in our city. Let us not wait for the worst and leave everything by chance. Our government and people should be one in this fight.