COVID-19 : Affecting more than health?

By Christopher James L. Castillo 11 - Riemann

This current pandemic has made the year pretty hectic. This all started when the

People’s Republic of China chose to not inform the World Health Organization (WHO)

about a mysterious disease that was first spotted on November of last year. It begun

with one man that was thought to have pneumonia but little did everyone knew, the man

was infected by a virus never before known. Eventually, the cases exponentially

increased; starting with only one case and now we have over one million deaths. The

entire world has been placed in a panic mode due to the problems that COVID-19 has

caused. As bad as this virus is for our health, its adversities doesn’t end there.

Economies all over the world, as odd as it may sound, have suffered from the virus.

Not that the actual economy is getting infected, rather, a chain reaction of events

caused it to cripple. COVID-19 forced governments to discourage people from going

outside. As a result, industries which specializes in travel, hotel, retail or any goods and

services that’s done outside, were severely affected. Many establishments closed down,

leading to unemployment becoming rampant and inescapably causing an economic

recession. Statistics from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show that unemployment

in the Philippines went as high as 17% on July. It may had eased down to 10% on

September but 10% is no doubt still a high amount. Due to the lack of jobs, online

selling became a trend as observed with the massive increase of product postings on

online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Shopee. Although

technically illegal, barter also became widespread as many families had no other means

to get their essential goods.

Politics constantly meddles in the pandemic response despite the public urgency in

easing the detrimental harms of the virus. Moreover, this period of quarantine has

shown the incompetency of governments worldwide in handling the situation. Let’s

observe the political situation here in the Philippines. Special administrative powers

were given to the President in order to help in the pandemic response. In reality, the

special powers did not contribute in mitigating the harms of the virus and only made its

holder more authoritative. The nation is currently in shambles due to an invisible enemy

and yet, the leaders whose responsibility it is to lead us during a crisis, chose to be

incompetent. Proper protocols and appropriate action are needed, not political hijinks

that seems to get worse every week or so.

Education is currently problematic now that it transitioned from the traditional face-

to-face modality to the online modality. On paper, distance learning seems like the
perfect plan to continue schooling regardless of the virus. However, the execution is

many distances far from the ideal; no pun intended. Students continuously complain

about its ineffectiveness in schooling. Many even say that school became a pseudo-job

with it valuing requirements rather than actual learning. Stress and anxiety due to

academics is rampant. The problem with online learning is not only the heavy tasks

given to the students, but also it being costly to participate in. Many families are not

financially capable to oblige with online classes with the unemployment problem being

present. Although some cities like Pasig strongly supports education by lending devices

for it, others don’t do enough. There are Local School Division Offices whom rely on the

teachers for the supplies and equipment for printing ‘modules’ or self-learning materials.

Despite the drawbacks of the current learning modality, the Department of Education

(DepEd) chose to push the school year thru. Hopefully, optimization of the current

learning system is done so that the students would learn in a better manner.

Social media, although very informative, tends to also harbor fake news. Its a

problem long before the pandemic even started but inevitably became worse in the

current situation. An embarrassing example was the time when former Spokesperson

Salvador Panelo publicly stated that bananas can cure COVID-19; which he learned

from a fraudulent post on Facebook. Its not only old people whom are susceptible in

believing in fake news, but also younger ones. Knowing which information are true and

which are false is profoundly important, especially in our current situation as our health

can be affected.

Many of us may remember that one Feng Shui expert early this year who said

“2020 is a very lucky year”. The quote certainly aged like fine milk. However, if anything,

this year gave us valuable lessons that we should keep in mind. First, we have known

more about the impurities in the governing system. Hopefully, this teaches the voters to

choose wisely as in their choices lies the country they’ve grew up to love. Second, we’ve

gained insight on the power and importance of science as a key to the development of

the quality of life. It is very much obvious that without the hundreds of technological

inventions throughout the years, our lives would have been much different and harder;

so let’s appreciate science. Third, it became apparent that our economies are

susceptible to factors like viruses. Fourth, responsible use of social media is now a must

in this age of instant access to information. We must know the right information to

believe and the ones to disregard, especially in health and news. Lastly, cooperation

has yet shown its importance again as all of us adapted to this ‘new normal’ despite its
difficulties and quirks. The cases may still seem high but cooperation between people

helped prevent a more dangerous outcome. Let us also keep in mind that this hurdle we

know as COVID-19 is not the last for us. There are many more crises that we are yet to

face in the future. Whatever obstacle it is, it can be conquered. As long as we unite as

one in mitigating its effects and eradicating the possibility of its irreversible aftermath.