My youngest had a slight fever and cough days ago, but he is well now. His brother then caught a cough and a runny nose, but he doesn’t have a fever. My wife and I talked about this and she expressed her worries to me. An officemate recently tested positive for Covid-19. What if she carried a virus to the house? It was a legitimate concern and one that we should not dismiss easily.
A variant of the original virus that causes Covid-19 has sparked a new surge in infections recently. Sadly that variant, called the Omicron, is believed to be the reason behind the recent surge of Covid-19 infections in the country. So when will this pandemic end? Some reports say the Omicron may be the last variant. But we can never be sure.
My two sons are finding school life under the pandemic difficult. My eldest, who is in first year college, already missed one semester, and I am asking him to decide if he wants to enroll with face-to-face classes still up in the air. He was last enrolled in civil engineering at CIT-University.
We, his parents, have not been pressuring him much. With his relative freedom, he has been able to help in some important household chores, one of which is to help his brother in his education. His brother is in third year high school.
Adding to his brother’s woes is the Odette aftermath. He already found online learning difficult. But with the electricity down for some time and with it our internet connection, his school has ordered him to shift to a module setup. He is still in the process of adjusting to the new setup.
This, I should say, is a sad life for them. All of us have been vaccinated, but we still have to have booster shots. That was why we were worried about our sons’ infections. Will we be able to withstand the assault of the virus variants?
As for our electricity, the Visayan Electric Company was finally able to reenergize our community the other day. It was almost dark when some of us stood near the post near our house, waiting for the Visayan Electric lineman to emerge. We had wanted him to check our connection before allowing the surge of the current to run wild in the electricity wires again.
Our line was cut off by a fallen coconut tree and we sought the help of the local handyman to reconnect it. What if the process would spark short circuits? But we were apparently waiting in vain for the lineman because suddenly houses lit up one after the other. The repair crew had decided to do the reenergizing without our knowledge. People either clapped or shouted in glee when our electricity, cut off by Odette weeks ago, was back.
I ran back to our house intending to supervise the putting on of our switches, but my eldest beat me to it. When the bulbs lit up, my sons and my wife shouted in glee. The days of charging our gadgets in places where generators were in operation were over.
With our faucets already providing us with water, we are already on the way back to normalcy. And we thank God for that.