HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL
Philip Cu Unjieng
As I’m writing this, I’ve just been admitted at the hospital for my prostate cancer procedure, and I’m doubly frustrated because beyond the standard trepidation over the Brachytherapy procedure which entails me going under anesthesia while up to ten thin, hollow needles are pieced into my prostate and radiation shot through them four times over two days, I’m also worried about checking into a hospital for three nights while we are experiencing this surge in COVID cases. It’s a surge that should have been better managed, and avoided.
And don’t get me wrong – I’m not anti-Duterte, and neither am I pro-Robredo or pro-any other opposition candidate you may want to insert here. Am just a concerned citizen who’s being observant and objective. So it frustrates me that after experiencing the longest continuous community quarantine in the entire world, we still rank as one of the lowest in the region in terms of COVID response, and last also in the region with an “immunization program” in place.
In the midst of this COVID surge, I had to enter the hospital for a March 22 Brachytherapy procedure.
I put "immunization program" in quotes because let’s be honest, it was all big photo op and attendant publicity when the first shipment of vaccine “gifts” came in, and its sputtered since then. We’re still awaiting shipments of the vaccine, as ordered by the private sector and LGU’s, to be flown in. And with the ongoing brouhaha about the blood clot side effects of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, which was ordered by a number of corporations, good luck to them even finding employees willing to gamble on that particular jab.
So I’m wondering if we even have an adequate COVID response plan in place that’s being properly executed and enforced. Honestly, it sometimes hard to believe there is; when so often, we read in the news about senior, or who should more responsible, personages in government being the very ones flouting the rules, acting all-entitled. Plus if there are truly strict guidelines on the entry of people into this country, how can we explain the surge in COVID cases of March? As recently as February, we were cruising at around 1,500 new cases per day (which in itself isn't much to brag about, when you compare it to countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, or New Zealand with their mere double digit cases over weeklong periods); and then in March, boom, it spikes up to over 4,000 cases a day, and a high of over 7,000 starting March 19. What gives?
Were our Immigration and health protocols being strictly enforced? Is the 14-day quarantine before being released into the community really happening? I’d venture to guess that after an initial negative antigen result is secured, the 14 days quarantine period isn’t being complied with, and we’re releasing into the community these COVID and COVID-variant carriers. “Palakasan,” cutting costs, lazy enforcement – choose any or all of the three to explain these variants now existing, and the spike in cases.
In the nations where COVID cases have really been suppressed, we’ll often find that an efficient system of contact tracing was institutionalized. Here, I’m sorry to observe that we have a contact tracing czar, but nothing much more to show than that someone was given the title. Or was he mistakenly told to look for SARS – as in contact tracing SARS? At malls and restaurants, I inwardly shake my head when I’m asked to fill out forms or download an app, wondering how many are in a hurry to fill them up and could be providing token and/or false information. And when there is some localized outbreak, can we track the movement of infected individuals and their contacts, as it’s done in South Korea?
And we’re back to playing pass the buck, coupled with the blame game. It’s never their fault, they’re doing their best, they’re hampered by financial realities – the litany of justifications goes on and on. But I think the citizenry was genuinely complying for several months over 2020, and we deserve a better explanation, and a coherent plan for how these next few months will unfold. Too much of what transpires is us reacting, covering our tracks, or finding ad hoc remedies. It’s not genuine forecasting, setting safeguards and strictly enforcing them, or even a shadow to what other nations are doing and succeeding with, to ensure the health and safety of their citizens.
Are we mired in a culture of accepting mediocrity as a standard of excellence? Is this the bigger problem? Thanks in part to social media, the process of putting oneself on a pedestal, and promoting yourself, and gaining traction of your posts via organic engagement and boosting, has been democratized. I see so many posts that are little more than the indirect “selling of self.”
I just wish the standards of performance, the bar we set for ourselves and the government, could really be deserving of being called “credit-worthy.” We owe that much to ourselves, to our children, and for those who will follow.