Priorities and healing

Frantic was how the European Union’s disease control agency described the condition and response of health workers across the EU after the alarm was sounded about the “exponential” rise in COVID-19 cases across the continent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported infection rates higher than the first wave of the pandemic in March and April, with Spain claiming “real numbers” of more than three million. It became the first EU member to surpass a million cases.

It resulted in a ban of gatherings from midnight until 6 a.m. Restaurants and bars can only accommodate half of their capacity.

Before the weekend, France announced that it had breached a million cases, too. It now imposes a curfew covering 46 million people.

Except for Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Greece, the other EU countries fell into a “serious concern” category, including the United Kingdom.

Brussels and Wallonia in Belgium are now the epicenters of Europe’s renewed crisis.

The WHO gives a dire prognosis in the next few months as it sees some countries are headed to “a dangerous track.” Those words were from WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus himself.

Worldwide count of the novel coronavirus infection has reached 42 million people and killed at least 1.1 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December.

One-fifth of these deaths are from the United States at 223,059 as of this writing. It has dealt with 8,411,262 cases as there remains no sign of the virus slowing down.

Currently, there are 9,944,958 active cases worldwide — 76,627 (or one percent) are in serious or critical condition.

The daily case count from Worldometer reported more than 490,000 on Friday, the last time we checked.

Aside from Spain, France and the United States, other countries which have breached one million cases are India, Brazil, Russia and Argentina.

The Philippines is in the 20th among the countries with the highest number of infections. It is the fifth with the biggest count among Asian countries after India, Iran, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

With the more economically advanced countries

“There are ways to celebrate Christmas and the New Year without sacrificing our very small gains against the coronavirus. Consumerism, beliefs and culture can take a back seat to our priorities this time.

still waiting for the miracle of a cure, through a vaccine, Filipinos could not be proud of its inclusion in this list.

This makes Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año’s pronouncement that the health restrictions will likely stay under the general community quarantine (GCQ) status until December a welcome development as more and more sectors are adding pressure for the government to reopen the economy fully.

Local officials of Metro Manila are not confident on the reopening, too, although experiments are being done with the more relaxed restriction of public transport just so the economy does not stall completely.

Año has the biggest voice among President Rodrigo Duterte’s advisers on COVID-19 matters. There is no doubt that the President’s next public appearance will mention Año’s recommendation.

The order to cancel company parties in relation to the coming Christmas holidays is welcome, too.

The holidays will attract shoppers. But the influx of people in malls and market places could trigger the bigger wave that is now being experienced by other countries.

While this is not good news to small businesses and entrepreneurs, canceling the gatherings altogether could help save the last lines of our remaining health workers who are in the front and back lines of the fight against the virus.

There are ways to celebrate Christmas and the New Year without sacrificing our very small gains against the coronavirus.

Consumerism, beliefs and culture can take a back seat to our priorities this time.

Let’s heal ourselves first.

“WHO gives a dire prognosis in the next few months as it sees some countries are headed to ‘a dangerous track.’