I didn't really pay attention to SARS and MERS before because I didn't feel its effect in my everyday life, and it kind of feel like no virus could reach our far away little village. When the news of the NCOV-19 broke out I still didn't pay much attention to it, well the thought of "it's happening in other countries" gave the assurance that it won't reach where I am. But things blew up and suddenly people who got infected are all over the place. I stay here in Thailand in one of its provinces which is 4 hours away from Bangkok. When the first case was confirmed in Bangkok that's when reality hit me, this is getting serious. I think when it was first broke out everything was so scary and everyone was panicking and scared and paranoia started kicking in. The thought of going out and being exposed outside was scary and some people started locking down themselves at home even before the official announcement was out. With little information about NCov-19 we all feared what it could do. The exaggerated information, misinformation, and too many fake news feed people's paranoia. I've seen people panic buying cause I was there (lol) did I panic buy? nope, I was buying in bulk for something else but for sure I sure look like panic buying too. (lol). Funny cause every time there was a big announcement that made people panic buy I sure always there again bulk buying but not for me. (hahaha)
When the government here announces the curfew and restrictions and closing down the public it really scared me. The uncertainty of everything started to kick in and I was like "what am I gonna do?" When other schools closed and started the work from home policy, I expect our school to follow. So just to be sure I bought groceries worth for a month, and mentally preparing myself to isolate and all. But nope! we didn't get that isolation thing happened (lol) we were required to still report in school for the whole month of March. Well so much for mentally preparing for isolation (hahaha). When the month of April comes they said we can work from home BUT we still need to scan in in the morning and after that, we can go home and do our work, HAHAHA amazing right???? again so much for isolation. We had cases here in our province, so my routine was my place and school. I would wake up early in the morning scan in and go back to sleep. (good thing my place is just minutes away from school). Then I change my routine, I went back to running, then scan in, then home. For a month that has been my routine, to be honest, we didn't feel like we were on lockdown, like other places. There are businesses that are close but most of the small businesses are open and people are still out and about. I was surprised to see that, cause I thought everyone was isolating.
Thailand has been doing everything they can to combat this pandemic, watching the updates every day made me updated what's happening in this country. Good thing that they have updates in English, I really appreciate it. As I am writing this, there have been no cases in our province and zero death all over Thailand. (June 13, 2020). Thailand has flattened the curve but there are people who believe that somehow it's not accurate. The situation here now in Thailand is almost back to normal. They have lifted the restrictions, but they are following the "new normal" now. People need to wear masks, social distancing (which is not followed) I went to the malls this week, I think social distancing is hard to follow as people tend to walk closer and stand closer to each other. There are hand sanitizers everywhere and also they have this app where people need to check-in and check out, I think it easy to track people just in case there are gonna be cases again. Just in case you cannot use your handphone they have a logbook where people can write. They also check the temperature before going inside any establishments. I know that almost everything is getting back to normal but I still have my doubts, we cannot let our guard down. As long there's no cure or vaccine I cannot be at peace with this pandemic. I really want this to be over because I wanna go home in the Philippines and spend time with my family. I was supposed to go home last April but because of the lockdown all flights were canceled and airports are shut down too.
A funny thing happened to me, so we need to report to our school every day the whole month of March, everyone was cautious and trying to be aware of everything. I was fine that day like nothing unusual happened in school, but when I got home I felt pain or more like muscle pain all over my body and I had a fever that night (hahaha) IMAGINE my fear, cause the symptoms of the virus includes fever and body pain. I didn't get a good sleep that night, paranoia and fear crept in. What I was worried about was the people I might get infected my co-teacher got kids, that really got me worried. (sigh) And I was with my friend Taylor who decided to spend the lockdown with me. We were discussing that all for one one for all if I really got the virus (hahaha). So I didn't report to school the next day but the fever was gone and I was a little bit better. It was a false alarm but the thing is with this pandemic going on you can never too sure. I lost count on how many times that I felt a little bit strange and it would scare the hell out of me. (ughhh). It's funny how the simple sickness escalated to a red alert level like a fever it used to be normal sickness and the only person that would worry about it probably is our moms but now when you get a fever the whole community or municipality would worry and freak out about it (hahaha). There was also an incident that Taylor got a call from his co-workers because there was a case in their place and as they do the tracing they found out that the date that patient traveled on a bus was the same day as Taylor, so they were confirming if it's the same bus as Taylor or not. Again IMAGINE our fear, Taylor was so worried and we started counting all the people he talked with and he encountered with, we were more worried about the people who might get infected because of us (geez). Again we were like "well my friend all for one, one for all it is." (hahaha). We waited for the confirmation and I must admit it was the most stressful wait of our lives! It took hours before they call him again and confirmed that it was not the same bus, relief took over and we were so done for that day. (hahaha).
During these trying times, a lot has happened, the world shut down, and people isolated themselves which gave mother earth time to heal. The economy is down, businesses and almost everything shut down. The virus hit everywhere and it didn't care if its first or third world country. It didn't care about status, world leaders, celebrities, the middle class, and the poor were infected. I read a lot about the struggles of the fronliners, and how they are our true heroes in this pandemic. There are people who are stepping up in making a difference amidst this pandemic, people who are helping those who don't have anything (food, shelter, etc), people who donated masks, and other needed stuff for the frontliners and for those who are less fortunate people. I read a lot of acts of kindness stories amidst this pandemic.
It goes to show how we as humans have compassion for each other and there's always goodness in our twisted dangerous world.
I read about the sufferings too and the struggles of the people who try to make ends meet in this situation. There are people who took their lives because of this pandemic. The virus didn't just take the lives of those who got infected, it took lives even those who don't have it. It feeds the mental struggles of the people, it brought domestic violence to new heights, it tore families apart, it took hundreds of thousands of lives. There are good and bad that happened during this pandemic, it showed how the human race is resilient and trying to survive but it also showed a lot of idiots and ignorant people causing more harm. I'm sorry for my words but that's how I see those people. Through this pandemic, I have seen the best and worst of the human race.
As for me, I am trying my best to survive, I and my family here in Thailand are doing our best to stay healthy and just survive this pandemic. We are far from our family in the Philippines and the best way for us to ensure that we gonna meet them someday when this is over is to take care of ourselves and stay focus on surviving, this too shall pass, it's not gonna be long now, I know this pandemic will be over soon in the mighty name of Jesus. I can't wait to go home in the Philippines and spend time with my family. I hope for our human race to survive this and to be united in facing this pandemic.
We Heal as One!
P.S.
I know people might think that it's fine now but we can never be too sure. We still need to be cautious and continue to have good hygiene and wear masks.
“Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
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