MEDIUM RARE

Love and sex in the time of coronavirus. How safe should it be?

With STAY HOME and STAY SAFE as the salutations of the times, loverly couples are getting married nonetheless and blissfully enjoying their imaginably planned honeymoons. As predicted, unexpected pregnancies are on the rise, but did anyone guess that weddings would be postponed? No way! As the chief editor of this newspaper sees it, a generation of babies conceived in quarantine will be born between Christmas and Valentine’s Day 2021.

Surrounded by real stories of pandemic-defiant lovers, Korean-imagined romances, and replays of torrid melodramas in Tagalog, it was a novelty, for want of a better word, to read about Canada’s chief health officer teaching couples how to have sex without spreading the virus. I say “novelty” because Theresa Tam’s language is calculating, sterile, unsexy, as when she states, “The lowest-risk sexual activity during COVID-19 involves yourself alone.” How’s that for self-isolation?

As reported by Agence France Presse, Ms. Tam said those having sex with a partner who is at risk or from outside the household “should skip kissing and avoiding face-to-face contact or closeness and consider using a mask covering the nose and mouth.” In addition, couples should limit their alcohol “or other substances” so they are able to “make safe decisions.” As further protection, she urged the use of condoms, by which one infers that it’s how to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.

Will we ever hear the IATF speak up like Ms. Tam? This is why we need a woman to sit with the generals and technocrats in the task force. Men can be bullheaded about tender topics – they are either too tough or too shy.

You don’t have to be a public health expert to notice how many mothers have been giving   birth on a sidewalk or in a pedicab, with smartphone cameras recording the event for sharing on the nightly news. Unexpected pregnancies, yes, but unscheduled, down-to-the-wire deliveries?

As God loves every baby, each time an emergency happened, there was a good Samaritan who happened to be there and knew what to do. In two recent cases, the angels who came to the rescue were a medical frontliner and a nurse. So like a touch of Christmas, wouldn’t you agree?