Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
This 70-year-old line from the movie Casablanca has taken a fresh twist in Negros Oriental today: Of all the 7,641 islands in the Philippines, this 38-year-old lady from Wuhan, China — eventually diagnosed as the first 2019 novel Coronavirus patient in the Philippines – and her boyfriend, who became the first NCov fatality outside of China, walked into ours.
And now, we’re all worried about it.
We’re worried because 1) she and her boyfriend may have infected our locals during her three-day stay here in the Province; 2) the virus expands rapidly; 3) there is no known cure as of today; 4) over 200 have died in China thus far; and 5) we are least prepared for this kind of emergency.
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We can’t do anything anymore about the first four causes of worry. But we can improve on our preventive measures from hereon. Like completely washing hands after being exposed in the public (in about the same length of time it would take us to finish singing “Happy birthday to you”); when there’s no tissue, coughing/sneezing into our elbow/upper sleeve (never covering our face with our hands); wearing the N95 facial or surgical mask correctly (if we have to) to avoid contamination; minimize going to public places, especially where tourists frequent.
The LGU of Iloilo has already taken the cudgels to request the airlines to temporarily halt flight operations into their Province. Not to be outdone, we in Negros Oriental are demanding that those arriving from China and other countries that have the NCov should go through a 14-day quarantine.
Studies have found how international travel does increase exposure to infectious diseases caused by viruses and bacteria. Many of these diseases, as we have experienced just recently, are just a plane/boat ride away.
Lastly, there’s just been too many hype generated by this virus. Remember that 98 out of every 100 patients successfully recover from this.
Let’s not focus on the two percent.
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