"On silver linings behind COVID-19"
"On silver linings behind COVID-19"
It maybe too soon to even say, as more and more peoples are still bracing for the worst, that the damage that COVID-19 has done so far to our world has engendered in its wake a number of silver linings.
The coming together of rapid assessment teams, scientists and medical experts to work out the needed containment plans to level off the spread of the virus is one such development. One notes that the global health and medical system is, as one Nobel award winning scientist once described it, more than a snake pit. It is a jungle full of all kinds of animals ready to kill and be killed to gain the next big cure for a global pandemic like COVID-19.
Which is why we are full of stories, conspiracy or otherwise, of firms and even countries trying to outfox or devour each other. Which is why we have this running battle on Twitter between the Trumpistas, the US President’s loyalists, and their European rivals, over the alleged efforts of Trump himself thru some surrogates to buy a German biotech company which has reportedly moved ahead with a possible cure for COVID-19 for use only in the United States.
Of course there were denials all over the place but such is the fierce competition going on over the miracle cure for this latest pandemic. It is well that the scientists and the medical community have shied away from this path and moved forward as one in accelerating the process of discovery and cooperation.
Just yesterday, there was a report that the Chinese government had sent a team of experts fresh from levelling off the outbreak in Wuhan, the original COVID-19 epicenter, to Italy, the center of the new epicenter, Europe, to share the lessons from Wuhan. Together with the team was a donation of hundreds of thousands of face masks and testing kits, two key materials in combatting the virus, both of which have been getting scarce in the continent.
And what were the lessons from Wuhan? The most basic was of course containment—limiting the spread of the disease in as fast and proper a manner as possible. So a lockdown was imposed, complete with total ban on movements in and out of Wuhan, social distancing, no more handshakes and the like, shutting down of dirty markets and malls, suspension of classes, ban on social gatherings and good, old sanitation procedures such as washing of the hands and use of disinfectants and sanitizers.
On top of all these, there was total mobilization of resources: Medical personnel and supplies, equipping and designating COVID-19 hospitals including the building of makeshift ones, use of gyms, public halls and other places to admit patients and undertake massive testing. As of this writing, only one COVID-19 patient was recorded in Wuhan for the day. Compare that with the thousands a day when the virus was first reported in that city.
Now, China, through the government or some prominent Chinese businessmen like Jack Ma, has shared not just the lessons but the resources needed to combat the virus and level up the global pandemic to a more manageable and less fearsome presence.
Of course, some people and sectors continue to suggest that China, being an authoritarian state, can do all of these things in the manner it did. That should not even be an issue. What was clear from the reports of how China and, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, was the fact that their citizens came together as one at a time of great danger to the entire nation in a show of patriotism, discipline and caring. These virtues and values are embedded in peoples and nations and the form of governments they have. It is called humanity or, as my English professor said, humanness. This is the one thing which gave them the impetus to move forward as a people. And this is the one thing which is now moving peoples and countries worldwide as we all do battle against COVID-19.
This is the one thing which moved residents in one Italian city to call on their neighbors to get out and sing to shock the community out of the gloom; to say that there is hope, to say that it is not the end of days if only we listen to the experts, be disciplined and do our share and pray for succor and grace in these trying times.
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We are in this together and we should simply be good persons. That’s it. This is probably the one thing which also moved Francis and Heidi, the people behind the E-Commerce organic foods consolidator and delivery service HoneGrown Foods, to offer their services to the Department of Agriculture and some local government units to assist in delivering basic food items like fruits and vegetables to those who do not have the means to go out and buy some food for their families during the lockdown. I am told that aside from their regular customers who are using their app (myorganicfoods@gmail.com) they have extended their service to Mandaluyong residents through the city Social Welfare and Development Office and the Office of the Mayor. This is not only a humanitarian gesture but an innovative one.
My friend, Ferdie Pasion, has been telling me for days about an anti-viral injection discovered by two doctor brothers which may be tested as a cure to COVID-19. They call it the Fabunan anti viral injection. I have mentioned this several times over our radio program as we called on Health Secretary Francisco Duque and Senator Bong Go, Chair of the Senate Health Committee and father of the Malasakit Centers, to check this discovery. Who knows, we may just have the cure in our midst. Nothing bad to try this innovation.
There are also a number of discoveries using our traditional medical products and practices which may be useful at this time. I am told, for example, that somewhere in the Cordilleras there is a plant which the residents use as some sort of a hot drink which prevents them from contracting the flu. These and other discoveries or practices may come handy at this point. Why don’t we try to work on them before the Big Pharma gets wind of these and lets these get stuck in the global pharma jungle?
Caring, learning and innovating are what we need during these trying times.