WAKE ME UP WHEN FACEMASKS END
Angelica C. Barcelon
Know that the blossom of the year 2022 is a must for your face mask. Know that the nightmare continues.
New year has just began yet Philippines remains under COVID-19's dominance. It is in no doubt that the year 2021 is a more loosen up version of 2020 in terms of dealing with Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19). About 47 million of the country’s population has completed their COVID-19 vaccines according to the Department of Health (DOH). The government's campaign to ensure that all Filipinos are vaccinated was a success. And yes, these vaccines serve as a new dawn to fight against the deadly disease.
It was December last year when the new cases has slowed down at 0.01% compared to the 0.32% increase last December 2020. The death toll was also lower, at 0.02 percent, compared to 0.15 percent in December of previous year. A great number indeed! Is the pandemic's end in sight? A matter of a yes and a no. Yes, because COVID-19 vaccines are openly available in our hands, prevention is also within reach. But the presence of new infectious strains makes it harder for the virus to be prevented. How can we be more complacent when we know that these new variants are more deadly than the Novel Corona Virus? These variants such as Beta, Delta, Theta and Omicron are something that brings additional terror to most of the Filipinos – vaccinated or not.
More so, restoration to normalcy and herd immunity are the two goals of the pandemic. A transition, as the name suggests, might undergone a series of phases in the social and economic life of the Filipinos. As for our government, the gradual transition to normalcy began when President Rodrigo Duterte allowed children, accompanied by their parents or guardians, to enter malls and restaurant. Despite the loosened restrictions, he urged parents to exercise caution. While Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has approved the limited face-to-face classes of college students during the beginning of 2021, students from kinder to Grade 12 will also be going back to their normal school days by early 2022 because the limited face-to-face classes will push through according to the Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones. This is despite the threat of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Whether you are a frontliner, an essential worker or a fellow Filipino, dealing with this dreadful and deadly disease is extremely exhausting. We, Filipinos are one step closer on freeing ourselves on the use of face mask. These masks are our shield against the virus yet the use of it is really suffocating physically, emotionally, and intellectually. We sincerely aim for freedom that COVID-19 has took away from us. Freedom to do the usual everyday - freedom to express our love towards others by simply holding their hands, embracing or by kissing them, freedom to explore and travel across the beautiful sceneries of our own country and freedom for minors to play and explore outside of their abodes.
This 2022, let’s hope for the end of COVID-19. Aiming for a great leap of change and an assertion that we have triumphed over the fatal disease, know that waking up against the greatest humankind nightmare is never a piece of cake.
For now, self-discipline is the key. Don't just wake up - dream as you sleep, dream the dream that everyone wanted.
--oOo-
The author is Administrative Aide IV at Bani National High School, Bani, Masinloc, Zambales, Schools Division of Zambales