Staying healthy

It’s hard to imagine that just four months ago, even as the government imposed the community quarantine in Metro Manila and Luzon, many people considered it OA or overacting to wear a mask in public.

At the time, the only masks available were the disposable types and the N95 used in health facilities and industrial sites. In just a few days following the lockdown of Metro Manila, there was a shortage of masks.

Today, people who are not health frontliners can walk around with a face mask underneath an acrylic face shield, wearing surgical gloves while clutching a portable bottle of alcohol or hand sanitizer, and no one would consider it OA.

Offices are now regularly spritzed with Lysol 99.9 percent anti-cold/flu virus disinfectant, and floors are mopped with a similar Lysol multi-action disinfectant cleaner.

For a long time I scoffed at politicians whom I personally saw liberally disinfecting their hands with alcohol in their cars, unseen by the crowds, after pressing the flesh during election campaigns.

Today I wash my hands with Lysol 99.9 percent anti-virus/bacteria hand soap or disinfect with alcohol so often I worry that my hands might become pasmado or palsied by December. And yet I’m finding out that this manic habit has become pretty common in the time of COVID.

People are bringing their own dishwashing materials to the office and communicating by email or Viber even if they are within shouting distance of each other.

As the economy is gradually reopened, it has dawned on people that these are minor inconveniences compared to the cost and risk of infection.

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Keeping the COVID-causing SARS-coronavirus-2 in check so we can continue earning a living can be expensive. An antibody rapid test costs from P1,200 to about P1,500.

People care about their health. You can see this in the long lines of motorists waiting patiently for their turn to undergo rapid antibody testing in the drive-through sites set up by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.

As in the days long before the pandemic, however, proper health care is heavily dependent on financial capabilities. Slum dwellers, whose homes make physical distancing impossible, can hope to get COVID testing only if it’s free.

Even the middle class will think twice about getting regularly tested in these economically difficult times.

The lines at the drive-through testing sites of Manila are long because the rapid tests are free. There are no such lines at the Philippine Red Cross, which offers one of the most affordable “gold standard” COVID swab test, at P4,000, with quick results since the PRC has its own state-of-the-art molecular laboratory.

I’ve been told that the swab test – the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) test that actually checks for the presence of SARS-Cov-2 rather than just antibodies – can cost from P6,500 up to more than P11,000 elsewhere.

The most affordable is the local version developed by Dr. Raul Destura’s Manila HealthTek Inc., at over P1,800 with VAT, but production is still limited. Its first customer, the Marikina government, is expected to get priority after the testing kit finally received the green light for commercial release from the Department of Health.

Unfortunately, even the PCR test does not give you immunity. You can test negative today on the PCR and still get infected hours later. Then you have to get tested again.

So until a cure or vaccine comes along, it’s cheaper and more practical to just follow all the health protocols, no matter how strange they might seem. Toss in a few suggested measures to boost the body’s immunity – taking virgin coconut oil and Vitamin C, gargling with antiseptic, a few minutes of daily exposure to morning sun for Vitamin D, drinking turmeric and lagundi tea.

Never mind if your hands become pasmado.

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It’s good to know that Filipinos are generally not pasaway or obstinate when it comes to abiding by public health protocols. This is according to the results of a survey of UK-based data analytics firm YouGov, conducted in partnership with the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London.

The June 22-28 internet-based survey showed that 91 percent of Filipinos wear masks outside their homes – the second highest in the world after Singapore, where compliance is at 94 percent.

From Feb. 24 to July 26, overall Filipino compliance was 84 percent – still among the highest in the world.

If there is resistance to wearing masks in the Philippines, it is not so much a form of protest against a perceived human rights violation, but because some people find it hard to breathe when using masks for a prolonged period, especially when doing physical activities such as brisk walking.

We can’t deny, of course, that there are truly pasaways in our midst, with Metro Manila police commander Debold Sinas becoming the poster boy with his birthday mañanita.

And there are people who can’t care less about observing physical distancing, taking immune boosters and avoiding touching one’s face.

As for the traditional prescriptions for staying healthy, there are people who think life is too short to worry about the health risks posed by nicotine and alcohol consumption, or too much sugar, salt, fatty foods and pigging out.

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As this pandemic wears on, however, I think lifestyle changes will become unavoidable.

At the start of the pandemic, a common question was, are we there yet? We wanted to know when the COVID curve would be flattened so we could get our life back.

It’s a measure of the uncertainty of the situation that today, into the fifth month of community quarantine, the question is no longer being asked.

People understand that even in the best-case scenario, wherein a cure can be found (vaccines take longer if we don’t want another Dengvaxia-type controversy), transmission is still possible and fear of infection will persist.

That fear will continue to dampen economic activities. The fear is evident in the businesses that have been allowed to reopen. People are still worried about dine-in services, getting haircuts and manicure-pedicures, buying clothes and shoes, and even sending their children to school. Facials and massage services can be put off for at least a year. Where there are other public transport options, people shun traditional jeepneys and UV Express vans.

Some operators of even established enterprises, who thought they could sit out a few months of business disruption, are seeing long-term turbulence and are opting to just shut down.

We’ll just have to get used to wearing masks, washing hands until they are palsied, spraying Lysol everywhere, and communicating through gadgets with persons just across the room.