MY NIECE recently.posted on Facebook a photo of her family and her preparing for a trip to Tudela town in the Camotes group of islands. When somebody asked her what was the purpose of the trip, she mentioned something about the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Cebu City. Judging from her answer, it looks like their stay in the town would be for the long haul.
My niece was born in and spent her early years in that town. Her father, who was my cousin, decided to relocate the family to the city where livelihood opportunities were many. My cousin was a fisherman in Tudela. His wife Soli sold fish and did other things to earn money. What they got simply wasn’t enough for a growing family.
They ended up doing well in the city. But my cousin died of a stroke months ago.
I don’t know if my niece was joking about the pandemic driving them back to Tudela. But if it was true, it was something that people did in a war situation. In Cebuano, the word for that is “bakwit” (evacuate in English). You leave the center of the fighting and go to the fringes until the war ends. It’s a form of evasion, but in this pandemic, it can also be described as being practical. Vaccination, of course, is more practical than that. And what if the virus enters the very same place where you are taking refuge in?
Fear and worry are obviously gripping every one of us. That is why I find it weird for officials to feel cavalier at what is happening now. They do not give importance to science and medicine and of the lessons from the previous surges and the effective means to combat these. For example, experts are recommending the use of lockdowns because these slowed down the spread of the coronavirus. So too those protocols like the wearing of face masks and social distancing.
I mean, one may not necessarily evacuate to evade the effects of the pandemic. One may just have to follow what the experts are recommending. The problem is that we think we are better than the experts and that superstition is superior to science. We come up with our own views and formulate protocols that unfortunately some sectors follow. The ultimate solution, which is vaccination, becomes just an afterthought.
The National Capital Region, or NCR, is currently on a surge a bit worse than us but the officials there are one in speeding up their vaccination effort. This is aside from strictly implementing the lockdowns to slow down the spread of the virus. Financial and other forms of assistance are being promised to those affected. Which is one of the lessons learned from past lockdowns.
Looking at the list released by the Department of Health on the virus infections in Cebu, I am worried. Because almost all of the towns and cities, whether they are the component kind or the highly urbanized reported infections. Even in places like Tudela town in Camotes, which reported only one infection, the virus could multiply fast. If the infections multiply 10 times in each of these towns and cities, we will be in great danger.