Cabaero: You can’t afford to be polite about masks

Cabaero: You can’t afford to be polite about masks

HOW to ask someone to wear a mask. Advice articles say you have to be polite to not embarrass the person. With the delta variant, however, can we still be polite?

It is tempting to get mad at those not wearing masks or not wearing them properly even after all the warnings, lockdowns and sacrifices of others. The lines of patients on sidewalks and in ambulances and cars just outside the emergency room should scare them into following the protocols, especially with this variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) virus.

The warnings have been made. Don’t go out unless it’s for something essential, always wear your mask and wear it properly, use a face shield, keep your distance and disinfect. When it’s your turn, get vaccinated.

The advice is to be polite, make the request for someone to wear a mask or wear it properly in a discreet manner in order not to embarrass the person. To confront them could put them on a defensive and create conflict.

Well, the advice did not take delta into account so it’s no longer relevant. These days, politeness when it comes to wearing masks is not required. When you see someone violating the mask rule, don’t hesitate to tell him or her. You may also have the guard or a person in authority remind the violator. If this does not work, the government has set up ways to report violations.

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In war, information is a weapon. In the battle against Covid-19, the number of hospital beds available is turning out to be a blunt weapon as there is no medical staff to manage the additional patients.

Department of Health (DOH) figures showed there are available beds for Covid-19 patients but images of people lined up on the sidewalk and in ambulances or cars outside a hospital belie them.

The explanation provided by Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama during a press conference Monday, August 2, 2021, was that there were no medical personnel – doctors, nurses, and aides – to manage the additional patients to be placed on available beds.

The DOH Covid-19 data on Cebu City facilities as of July 31 showed that there were 30.70 percent or 35 vacant intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 37.04 percent or 220 vacant isolation beds, and 59.68 percent or 188 vacant ward beds. In addition, there were 47.58 percent or 59 vacant mechanical ventilators. These numbers cannot be taken to mean there is space for you because they do not say if these available beds are peopled by medical staff.

The same data said two hospitals or facilities are at a critical level with occupancy already at more than 85 percent, possibly already 100 percent. But they don’t name the hospitals. Why? Is it to protect the hospital? Shouldn’t they be protecting the public by giving them the information they can use?

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