YES, the inconvenience it causes can be bothersome. Many a time I had to walk back home to get the face shield I forgot to wear.
But... no. I don't mind the inconvenience given the extra cover it's giving me. With Covid out there and people getting infected every day, I'd grab at any extra protection I am given.
Speaking of protection, I got my first Sinovac jab last June 1 and I'm just waiting to get my second jab. My worry that the prescription I have for a heart ailment might not be enough to prove I'm A3 was wiped away the moment my blood pressure was checked. I didn't even need to show anything as my blood pressure was way up there just a tad below that level where administering the vaccine will have to be delayed. I was classified as high risk and made to sit in the high-risk monitoring area to wait for my blood pressure to go down after being jabbed. I wasn't feeling bad, in fact, I thought I was okay. But the deadly fear of needles couldn't be disguised by smiles and nonchalant poses. "Nice try!" My blood pressure must've been cackling.
But my fear of needles was nothing to my determination to help end the scourge. I just have to have that modicum of protection no matter what it takes to contribute to that herd immunity. I am praying that all hold the same conviction.
It's a year and a quarter since the first lockdown and we're still living restricted lives. We have to heed that call to heal as one because it's not just Covid we are fighting here.
Unseen as yet are the psychological disorders being spawned by isolation, uncertainties, unemployment, bankruptcy, and yes, from receiving a text from safedavao saying you were within the vicinity of someone who tested positive.
These days and the days to come will continue to throttle us in a way that is just as invisible and as debilitating as the virus.
When we were first ordered to stay home starting March 16, 2020, we were all looking forward to June when we thought all this will be over. It's now June again, one whole year later. And it's still not over. Friends and kin are still being snatched away from us, never to be seen again. The world still does not see the end in the near future as countries upon countries are being throttled by new surges.
If that face shield can save just one more life, it is already worth wearing. If that second jab means being marked as high risk again, I won't mind. There's just too many people dying, too many suffering.
Here's to hoping that the vaccination of the young and able will begin as soon and as efficient as possible,
This is an appeal to all barangay centers to please do your jobs! We were told to sign up, we did. We were told to wait, we did. But A1, A2, and A3 are almost over, and yet no text was ever received. saestremera@gmail.com