Coronavirus: The good, the bad and the ugly news

Last Thursday, I spoke via Zoom as guest speaker at The Asia Foundation’s Southeast Asia Roundtable about US-Philippines relations. I gave them the latest figures on the COVID-19 cases in our country and the measures taken by our government. During the Q&A, we were asked about our economy and the VFA termination. I also talked about the US-based Fil-Am nurses as well as doctors and healthcare workers that are in the frontlines in this fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many articles have been praising the dedication of Fil-Am nurses and healthcare professionals, and I was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal note from John Brandon, The Asia Foundation’s International Relations Program Senior Director, saying my remarks on the large number of Filipino nurses and healthcare workers in the US working on the frontlines struck a personal note.

“Last week, my Aunt Margaret passed away in a nursing home in New Jersey from COVID-19. Consequently, her children could not be with her in her final days. But my cousins could not speak highly enough of the healthcare workers who assisted her, not just physically, but spiritually, in comforting her (and them) in her final days. All of the healthcare workers were from the Philippines and knew how devoutly Catholic my Aunt Margaret was. I thought you might be interested to know this,” John wrote.

Expressing my condolences on his loss, I told John it was gratifying to know that through the Filipino healthcare workers, family members were able to virtually spend the last few days with his aunt, surrounded by prayer and good thoughts.

Undoubtedly, the pandemic is taking such a huge toll on many countries all over the world, with patients dying alone because their loved ones are unable to say goodbye due to the risk of infection.

But the good news is that there are promising results shown by Gilead Sciences’ experimental drug remdesivir. America’s top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci himself said this is “quite good news” as it shows that a drug can block the virus. Preliminary results of a study by Gilead Sciences showed at least 50 percent of patients with severe cases improving after a five-day treatment of remdesivir. There is also a strong possibility that a vaccine can be discovered by the end of this year. Several lab companies have made tests that had good positive results.

One ugly news however that made the rounds in social media here among Fil-Ams is about that rude Spanish tisoy in Makati who cursed and denigrated the police officer who was just trying to do his job in keeping everyone safe. This typical tisoy displayed that old cacique mentality of “kami pwede, kayo hindi” where they think they can do anything they want regardless of what the law says.

Some people still do not realize just how serious this pandemic is, which could go on till the end of this year or even the next. And if we don’t find a cure or vaccine soon, the death toll could reach hundreds of thousands if not even millions.

Rushing to ease down quarantine could also result in the resurgence of new infections, which is what happened during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. This was very evident with what happened to San Francisco which, at the beginning of the outbreak in the city in September 1918 was shut down, with school, churches and theaters closed. People were ordered to wear masks and mass gatherings were also prohibited, with fines imposed on anyone violating the order.

But when the number of cases started to taper down by early November, city leaders decided to reopen. People went out into the streets to celebrate and threw off their masks – triggering a second wave and then a third wave because with no vaccine, the virus was still very much present. The Spanish flu pandemic lasted for over two years, wiping off one fourth of the world population then with the death toll estimated at 50 million.

This should give us an idea of the heavy toll that the COVID-19 pandemic could take on all of us. Clearly, we have to learn from the past lest we are bound to repeat it. Now more than ever, nations must collaborate and heed the UN General Assembly that adopted a resolution calling for “intensified international cooperation to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic.” Just recently, the US donated 1,300 cots/hospital beds as well as P204 million in health assistance to the Philippines. It also initially allocated close to $274 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help nations all over the world fight the pandemic.

But I must say, there is at least one silver lining behind this dark cloud – such as global pollution levels showing significant drops in places like India, the most polluted country in the world. A report by NASA disclosed that air pollution in Northern India especially New Delhi dropped to a 20-year low. Indians posted photos of the Himalayan peaks which they have not seen for decades due to smog. The lowering of pollution levels is due to India’s imposition of a nationwide lockdown on its 1.3 billion population, with the government extending the initial 21-day lockdown that ended on April 14 to another three weeks.

WSP’s president and COO Diana Lesaca said it best when she likened what is happening to “a beautiful reset of the planet.” Whatever we were doing before must change. We cannot remain the same – we have to be ready for a new world.

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