COVID – 19 Philippines

Novel Coronavirus 2019 (An Outbreak)

Novel Coronavirus was discovered in the late December of 2019, but it was only broadcasted in early January 2020. The strand of the virus was believed that it came from bats in which a snake ate and the snake was eaten by a person. The virus originated from Wuhan, China, in a wet marketplace in which exotic foods were sold including scorpions, snakes, bats, rats, and basically anything that moves. Thus, after this incident, the virus became an outbreak in the province of Wuhan.

n-CoV 19 (An Epidemic)

The name n-CoV 19 was given to it after it was studied in a laboratory. The arising outbreak in the province of China, spread throughout the country of China really quick, thus making it as an epidemic. Others, however, started to quarantine people in the country but it was too late because the virus was reported in some other countries in which people with the virus have come and transmitted it to them. In this time, there were rumors that the virus was already known beforehand and the Chinese scientists hid it to the whole world, thus people not knowing, the virus was said to be leaked in one of their laboratories in which it resulted to the outbreak of it.

Covid-19 (A Pandemic)

After a series of cases sprouted in different parts of the world, the WHO or World Health Organization declared that the said virus is already a pandemic. Thus giving the name as Covid-19 or Coronavirus Disease 2019. Many people in the world suffered through this strand of virus. Countries then began to lockdown, including, USA, Europe, South Korea, Japan, and almost all of the countries.

The government in each country declared a community quarantine to all. The government agreed to a lockdown. Any flights from any country are not allowed to enter the premises of any country.

The government after a few cases here in the Philippines decided to implement the Enhanced Community Quarantine effective until April 14, but in the last week of the quarantine, it was later extended until April 30, then extended again until May 15, 2020. People then became more violent and undisciplined, not following government orders, the municipality in each city decided to use the police force, in Manila, instead of the police officers, it was the military was in charge. Checkpoints in every route are very strict. The government, unable to support the provinces and municipalities, cannot contain the people who belong to the “no work, no pay”. People were forced to break the law just for their families to survive. Some local government units gave some supplies of food to their constituents. The government implemented the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) for its beneficiaries (poorest of the poor) which means not all of its countrymen will not benefit from it. But all of the people are affected by this pandemic, yet social status is to be considered.

Now during these days of quarantine, news had been flooded by the cases of coronavirus, especially in social media. The cases continued to grow more and more, deaths were most likely each day. In other parts of the globe.

Because of the economy drop, the government decided to open some of its factories and other establishments that are essential or needed for us human beings. It needed to choose between safety and the survival of the country.

This led to the implementation of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), the General Community Quarantine (GCQ), and the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) into some areas of the Philippines. The government was really confused of what to implement because there were several announcements that it would be GCQ and then on the much later announcement it was said to be MECQ, shifting from time to time until it was agreed to be MECQ wherein 50% of the establishments would be opened and would be manufacturing for the country.

A few weeks later, we heard some shocking news from the media. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (a.k.a President Digong) loaned from the world bank despite having debts making the grand total at $7 Trillion in which part of it would be donated to the COVID-19 patients who survived and to the families of those who passed away. The SAP beneficiaries yet again would be given. Our front-liners were starting to catch the virus but nonetheless they saved other’s lives rather than theirs, making them our heroes of today’s world.

As the pandemic spreads more, more and more lives are being affected until the government could not handle it anymore and leaving everything into its people’s hand as Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said (“Dumating na sa punto na taumbayan na po ang magdi-desisyon, hindi na po ang gobyerno, kung ano ang mangyayari sa ating buhay at lipunan. Nasa kamay na po natin ang pagkalat, kung gaano kabilis ito.” - July 06,2020) “It has come to the point that the people will decide, not the government, what will happen in our lives and society. The spread is in our hands, how fast it is. ” - July 06,2020

It really affects my job, because no one is allowed to work within this period of time. Because of this pandemic, I learned about working at home is essential, because you can still earn amid this time. A lot of people now are learning about online jobs, more are interested to get into it. There are lots of benefits working from home like you will not go through traffic, no more office attire and you will have more time to spend with your family.