A science high school graduate warns of a “double pandemic” in a short infotainment video for a digital art exhibition.
In “Double Pandemic, Deadly Combination”, Elizah Bacani talks about the danger of trans fatty acids or trans fats.
The project, which attempts to describe trans fats in simple terms through the visual medium, was originally written by filmmaker and content producer Seymour Sanchez under the “(Un)Covering Trans Fats Media Training and Fellowship Program Cycle 3” by Probe Media Foundation, Inc. and ImagineLaw.
Sanchez’s personal experience, along with his knowledge of the connection between trans fats and cardiovascular disease, inspired the idea. “My father-in-law died last May due to sepsis after getting the virus. He also had heart problems, which forms a deadly combination with COVID-19,” he shared.
“I got a severe case of COVID last August and fortunately survived the ordeal despite my comorbidities,” revealed Sanchez. “As a kidney transplant recipient, I am immunocompromised. My condition is a known comorbidity of COVID, which makes me more susceptible to severe symptoms of the disease.”
Aside from persons with weakened immune systems, older people and those with underlying medical conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes are also more likely to develop critical COVID-19.
“We can actually avoid the presence of trans fats in our country. Although greatly reduced, they have yet to be eliminated completely in our food supply. Laws should be enacted to declare that these fats are no longer generally recognized as safe. A deadline must be set for them to be banned,” he added.
“Double Pandemic, Deadly Combination” is part of To Differ, Digitally 2: Love and Dissent in the Time of Pandemic (TDD2) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Center for Campus Art.
Curator Karen Ocampo-Flores explained that TDD2 “is not only a fresh opportunity to deliver messages of social commentary through the digital medium; it is also a timely response to conditions brought by the present scourge of the COVID-19 virus”.
“Seymour Sanchez presents through the language of documentary video his own arguments and inquiry into politics and public health,” Flores said in describing the works in the art exhibit available for viewing at www.benildecampusart.com.