DAY 75: MECQ

In two days, we are graduating to General Community Quarantine (GCQ).

There have been so many levels of quarantine of varying degrees of restrictions that it has become confusing.

Well, it has always been confusing.  We started out with GCQ that eventually became ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine) which mellowed down into MECQ ( Modified Enhanced Quarantine) then finally back to GCQ ... but wait, there's more ...MGCQ ( Modified General Quarantine).

OK, folks. I will admit it. Litung-lito na po ako. (Translation: I am so confused.)  What is that threadbare difference between ECQ and MECQ.  All I realized was that when it turned MECQ, I could finally get out of my house and stop talking to my dog.  

Meaghan, my feisty-unconditionally-loving Labrador, used to do somersaults and cartwheels each time I come home in the south especially after spending a stretch of a week in the north where I work.  One thing I realized was that at the start of the quarantine ( like long ago second week of March), Meaghan was the happiest mammal on earth after having and seeing me every day by the week.

And since we were all literally locked in our houses with only my ever faithful Yaya and assistant doing all the chores with a quarantine pass, I was stuck with Meaghan who loves to play fetch and would sit down quietly while I talked to her.  I realized that after around one month and a half of that, she was beginning to respond to my conversations with her --- much to my fear that one day she would answer back.

Hindi pa naman.  But my constant presence has someone become quite customary to my canine friend that the excitement is gone.  Meaghan has stopped doing somersaults and cartwheels when she sees me.  When I call her name, she would still come with that look that seems to say, " Ano na po?" expecting nothing more or nothing less of what we have been doing for what she must feel like dog years.

That is the bane of ECQ --- but now that we are morphing from MECQ ( Puwede na akong lumabas ng bahay at magpa-walking-walking while keeping social distance and talking to other dogs in the neighborhood), I am not quite sure that I am happy/excited or nervous/terrified that in two days, doors will be opened as businesses slowly resume and people are expected to slowly move back to work.

Since the lock down mid-March, I have gone out of the house for a grand total of four times.  That is four times I have seen beyond my backyard and the empty lot in front of my house, plus the row of residences that lined up my street.  Yes, I do walk around the village but that is a thirty minute ritual I have been doing since the village association allowed us to get some more fresh air outside our enclaves.  And the four times I have stepped into what remains of civilization was to go to the bank, go to my dentist (who thankfully accommodated by request) and these past two days to the grocery stores. 

And why did I spend my afternoons braving the grocery stores (which have always been happy places for me before we are all compelled to wear face masks --- and I don an extra barrier of face shield) these past two days?

Because I am terrified with the oncoming GCQ.  Yes, that is right. I am mollified with the very thought?

Bakit?  Should I not be happy that by Monday the trains will be running again, the buses will be plying the main thoroughfares, more stores will be opened? 

Straightforward answer: Hindi.  Hinding-hindi.  Being hesitant to terrified is nothing close to exciting and anticipating.  Now why this ... unusual pessimism?  Why this fear?

For one thing I have friends who consistently remind me that being a senior citizen leaves me to the vulnerable group.  Yes, that's right.  But being over 60 does not mean that I will do something stupid like walk around carelessly or in abandon or go around sniffing other people's breaths to check if they ate anything with garlic.  Of course I am careful, very careful.  "But this is an invisible enemy.  You can get it from touching surfaces, yada, yada, yada.  You have to spray the soles of your shoes before you enter your house, yada, yada,yada ...You have to take off your clothes before entering your ..."

OK KA LANG?

More than the virus, it is the paranoia that accompanies the pandemic that adds an extra layer of psychological danger, leaving so many people depressed, isolated and ... simply OC to the max.  Look, I wash my hands more than ten times a day and in between it has been rubbed with so much ethyl that it has become a certified alcoholic.

Yes, I understand the source of the paranoia but how can we go on living like this?  I mean ... it is bad enough to we have wear face masks and shields and assume the fellow next to you is an asymptomatic shredder of the virus, right?  Can't we at least have a little bit more room for joy not to think that somebody stupid will go up to you and cough right at your face?  (Uhm, don't watch too much YouTube because some freedom-loving-God-trusting Americans actually do that to prove that they come from the Mothership of the Brave and the Free.)

Now why am I not exactly about GCQ this Monday?  Because I think I know what other people mean by GCQ meaning Get Corona Quickly.

FACT:  We are loosening up the quarantine not because it is already safer ( OK ka lang?) but because of the economy?

Other facts: We have not flattened the curve.  The curve is still as big as my senior citizen belly ... and it is very curved.  How can we claim flattening the curve when there are more than one hundred cases reported by the DOH as the days go by.  Holy Banana!  The other day more than five hundred new cases were reported --- and I can imagine an entire room of people peeing in their pants because we are opening up on Monday.

So having realized that sandamakmak pa ang mga taong nagkalat diyan na may beerus, we have to get real  And more than just careful  

You'd want to beg them to stay home instead and practice social distancing? Malabo yon. Why? Because these people have got to eat ... and therefore work.

Sige. The strangest of times to loosen up the quarantine after almost three months --- then to be told, "God be with you."  I will not go into that now.  But all of you know how most feel.  The decision to go into GCQ is not about health or lives ... it is about a healthy economy and saving livelihood.

Even as I write this, the prospects are not exactly sunny bright down the Yellow Brick Road.  And, if it is any consuelo de bobo, the problem is not isolated to our dear archipelago of a republic. It is a problem suffered by most nations when a pandemic hit the planet and nobody was really prepared ... except for a handful of countries like New Zealand and Taiwan.  But, as for us .... OK, let's move on.

RUMORS:  One of the biggest food chains in the country --- a certified giant --- is in really deep shit.  Another mammoth of a corporation may be dismissing as much as 50% of its regular employees.  Franchise branches of another food chain are closing down.  Most, if not all private schools, are in the red because of the unforeseen closure of these establishments for two months and enrollment for the next terms are trickling in.

Ah, teka ... did you know that they are projecting 300,000 OFWs are coming home because they have lost their jobs from all corners of the globe?

Over and above that, there is a necessity for GCQ even if it is not the right time or place to do so to insure the health of the citizenry.

The battle was simplified: LIFE OR LIVELIHOOD?   Livelihood won.  Matira ang matibay.  Labanan ito ng resistensiya at immune system.

Bluntly put again, there is really not much of a choice.  Just like Trump opening up America when the casualties are still on the upswing.  Another extended lockdown and the economy collapses.  And that is more long-lasting and deadly as the virus.

Never mind if there is no solution given as to how the returnees to work will get to their offices considering a skeletal mass transport system will only be in place. Eh, di maglakad. O magbisikleta.  Poproblemahin pa ba naman nila pati yan? Basta.

So what gives?  Better yet, may choice ba tayo?  Yes, we can choose to be careful and very good reasons to be afraid. 

My paranoid friends will be more paranoid.  Others will develop severe agoraphobia --- while they may be others who will be wearing face masks, face shields, goggles and PPEs while lining up to enter S & R.  I will not be surprised.

Am I afraid of Monday?  Naman. Which was why I bought my groceries to last me for another two weeks.  I don't know about you guys ... but I am staying home.  Because it is GCQ.

The elimination round of Palarong Panggutom  (Translation: Hunger Games ) begins 12MN, 01 June 2020.

Let the games begin.