“Some people feel they are more equal than others.”
It is just right that charges were filed against that young woman and the others who violated quarantine protocols. Instead of staying in her hotel room as she should have, she immediately went home and then went partying with her friends where she infected about 15 people who did not know that she was infected. Now, everyone knows her as the Poblacion girl.
She is like Mary Mallon, popularly known as Typhoid Mary of long ago who was an asymptomatic typhoid fever carrier. She insisted on working without informing her employers of her condition, thereby infecting about 53 people with typhoid fever. She was later forcibly quarantined and spent the last 20 years of her life in isolation.
We are not suggesting that Gwyneth Chua do the same but she must be made to face up to her irresponsibility, selfishness and arrogance. When the cooperation of everyone is needed to stem the tide of infection, there are people like Chua who think that they are more equal than others.
What this episode is also telling us is that there is a need to tighten quarantine protocols. Quarantine facilities must do their part in enforcing regulations like installing an electronic device to warn the front desk if the person being quarantined attempts to leave his or her room.
As it is, we are now finding out that there are others who also violated their quarantine protocols like that individual who posted on social media that she was being massaged at home. Has this individual been tested? What is her current status?
With the very strong possibility of the Omicron variant now spreading locally, it is just right that all these violators get what they deserve. Toward the end of last year, everyone was hoping for a certain degree of normality due to the low infection rate we experienced in the last two months of 2021. That’s why Christmas was celebrated with more gusto than 2020.
But we are now entering a new year grappling with another surge that will again test our resilience. Hopefully, this Omicron variant will be milder as experts are saying and will not kill as much. Still, we don’t know what’s in store, so let us all cooperate and do our part.
* * *
One of the principal attractions of Baguio City has always been its all-year-round springlike climate. It’s a place like no other in this part of the tropics. And every time we get to this part of the year, one pastime of the media is to keep a temperature watch to see how low the temperature gets.
Last year, the lowest it got was 9.2 degrees Celsius. By the looks of it, it may get lower this year. The nights are a bit more chilly this year than last. So, we may see the temperature breaking 9 degrees this year but we will have to wait and see.
The lowest official recorded temperature by the government was 6.3 degrees Celsius in January of 1961. That however was not the lowest ever recorded. A temperature of 3.5 degrees Celsius was recorded way back in 1903 in the place where the current Baguio Country Club is located. When the first Americans came to Baguio at the turn of the 20th century, they sent word to their headquarters in La Union to send all the blankets that they could spare because of the cold.
Baguio was really much colder in earlier times. As children going to school, we would already be wearing jackets all day long by November. Global warming changed all that. This time, there are days when Manila-type temperatures can be experienced and it’s getting more frequent. The humidity however, remains tolerable at all times.
Today, if one wants to experience much lower temperatures, one must venture to about 50 kilometers into Halsema road to experience frost during this time of the year. There, the temperature can get to just a couple of degrees Celsius. That should be cold enough, but not perhaps to a Mongolian or Siberian who might consider 2 degrees summer.
Yes, Baguio may have changed quite a bit from the old days but it can still boast of a comfortable climate all year round. The daily afternoon fog in Burnharm Park may already be gone due to the thousands of vehicles but the park is now being improved by Mayor Benjie Magalong so that locals and tourists alike can enjoy it better. The sidewalks are being improved and widened to make them walker friendly to those who enjoy walking. In addition, many of the sidewalks in many parts of the city are also being widened for walking. The sidewalks around Teachers Camp and South Drive where people like to walk will also be wider.
