Stopping COVID-19 Spread by Physical Distancing

Volume 1, Issue No. 38

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Tuesday, April 14, 2020 

~ Staying frozen in our homes and sheltered with family, we've become "virtual" than "personal" in our communications with colleagues, relatives and friends. It's the coronavirus and the disease it carries (COVID-19) that sets how we move and behave. Everything is changing rapidly, in fact, it took just several weeks to learn new ways to cope and survive this pandemic that gives rise to Generation C.

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2020 START OF GENERATION C? 

We've Become 'Virtual' Than 'Personal'

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Temper us in fire, and we grow stronger. When we suffer, we survive.”― Cassandra Clare

TORONTO - Close friends lament the inability to meet up for our usual fortnightly dinner of kamjatang (also gamja-tang), the spicy neck-bone soup we've accustomed to eating in the last few years prior to the recent unwelcome arrival of coronavirus.

The last time we had kamjatang, or KJT in our lingo, was exactly two months ago at our favorite Korean restaurant in northern Toronto. Another place we went to was in Chinatown, only because a streetcar stop was close by and driving posed a big challenge due to the winter snow.

That was February 15, 2020, when Toronto Public Health had registered only two cases in this multicultural city of 2.9 million people. A month later, on March 15, the number jumped to 32, then 48 the next day, then 75. 

The progression continues from that day on. As of this writing (April 14), Toronto lists a cumulative total of 2,362 cases, 122 recovered, and 92 deaths. Province-wide, the Ontario total is 7,953 cases with the addition of 483 new cases and 334 deaths. Across Canada, it's even grimmer with 26,146 cases, 7,945 recovered and 823 deaths.

Such a situation warrants drastic rules in our movements. We're all frozen in a sense, told to shelter in place, while the search for a cure is pursued by scientists worldwide. The Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center tallies 1,970,225 confirmed cases globally, and 124,544 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, April 14, 2020. 

It may sound frivolous to not engage in our normal routine, such as having KJT once in a while - which is actually a convenient excuse for a lengthy talk - but it actually typifies a loss, albeit temporary, of some of our freedoms at the real risk of losing our lives to COVID-19, the disease that coronavirus brings.

What's dreadful is in not seeing the common enemy that COVID-19 is, and in not knowing how to defeat it despite advances in science and technology. Health authorities decide that the best alternative to slow or mitigate its advance is personal hygiene and strict observance of physical or social distancing. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liYW6EgxXu8).

Physical distancing dictates our activity in and out of our homes, offices, public transports, parks, restaurants, among others. We can't walk alone unless we observe a distance of 6 feet or 2 meters from others. We can buy food from restos but can't dine-in. We can't mingle unless it's with the family and so on.

During the weekend, city authorities warned they're issuing $1,000-citation tickets to those who violate physical distancing rules. "Any two people who don’t live together, who fail to keep two metres of distance between them in a park or public square, can receive a $1,000 ticket – the maximum set fine available," the order reads.

"Virtual" has replaced "personal" in many aspects of our lives in what some people now casually call Generation C, the age of the coronavirus. The new insert is supposedly between the Millenials (or Generation Y, birth years 1981 to 1996) and Generation Z (the mid-1990s to 2012), and Generation Alpha (2010 to late 2020s).

I can't begin to imagine how dreary life would be in this so-called Generation C without the computers, the internet, the cell phones, and the other "virtual" gadgets that's become tools of social media. We're physically detached but not completely as we could still connect.

The self-isolation we're advised to do, including imposing limits to unnecessary outings unless it's for food and medicine, benefits us the most. It's a simple but difficult thing to do for social animals like us. 

Physical distancing deprives the coronavirus of potential carriers to latch onto. Authorities estimate that within 6 feet of an infected person, droplets from coughs or sneezes could make their way to one's nasal passages, mouth, lips, and other mucous membranes.

So there's not much choice but to keep our distance. In the meantime, our lengthy talks will have to wait. And when the time comes that COVID-19 is conquered, it will be a grand feast to have bowls and bowls of KJT to celebrate life. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).