It’s a great relief for many that the police and the military have deployed their assets to the southern portion of Negros Island to ensure the public’s safety from potential kidnapping or terror threats.
That explains why we now hear of helicopters flying our skies every now and then. We also witness patrol boats scouring our shorelines, always on the lookout for external threats, and is in a perpetual state of readiness to meet any threat.
We have addressed a security threat which was based on an intelligence report that may or may not be true.
But there’s a bigger threat that’s staring us in the face, and which is killing Negrenses as you read this: This is the threat brought to us by the seemingly-harmless mosquito which carries the deadly dengue virus.
The latest casualty count of the Department of Health has put the number of deaths at 31, while 4,500 persons have been hit with this deadly virus from January to Nov. 5 here in Negros Oriental.
This is almost double the figures from last year. Hospital admissions are overflowing. Appeals for blood donors are featured every now and then on Facebook.
Before we dismiss the dengue threat as a natural occurrence, let’s remind ourselves that there can be some effective human intervention to keep these mosquitos from multiplying. This is by way of eliminating stagnant bodies of water where the mosquitos lay their eggs. These stagnant bodies of water could be our ordinary flower vase, empty bottles and cans, leaves that hold water, and puddles of water around our houses.
If all of us do our part in eliminating the breeding places of mosquitos, there’s a big chance that our houses and our community will be dengue-free.
That’s a small price to pay to address a real physical threat whose propensity to kill has been proven year after year.