If someone in the condominium building or in the community where you live is COVID-19 positive, would you like to know from management that it exists? “Why should you know?” someone asked me. Such an absurd probe, I thought. I felt that the question showed a significant lack of common sense, empathy, and concern! So, I reacted, “Why not?”
A friend was on a ventilator and hospitalized for more than two weeks. She almost died. She is still recovering. She said that probably she caught it from a neighbor. Would this be a good reason one should know?
We don’t have to know who the positive COVID-19 individual residing in our community or condominium building. It is a bonus if we know. Nevertheless, we need to be immediately notified as we are openly at risk of the imminent danger of getting sick that can kill us. The warning gives us the chance to be extra careful and to protect ourselves.
Awareness is most important today because on top of the COVID-19 pandemic that troubles us all, ‘China reports NEW unknown disease spreading across Asian countries deadlier than COVID-19’ according to a UK online news article. If management does not exercise social accountability, I think there will be more chaos should there be another crisis.
We already know that the coronavirus is continuously shocking our public health system. The infection is so severe. It chooses no one whether we live in posh gated villages and premier residences or in compact and high-density urban structures.
Lack of information can unsettle the community. It is unthinkable of the number of calls or visits management may have. Suppose there are 950 houses in a village, and there is a confirmed COVID-19 whom management kept to themselves, but knowledge leaked to the community. Management may have to contend with 230 calls if about 25 percent verifies.
Are there laws that direct management to notify residents?
The laws and policies mandate the reporting of communicable diseases to local or provincial health authorities. Information is vital during times of epidemic or public health concern. And for this reason, village or condominium management track who may be sick in the community. Unless there is an instituted corporate code or local government policy on social accountability to apprise residents of the ‘true state’ of the community’s public health without violating data privacy, knowledge remains in the hands of the mighty… and others left in the dark and to fend for themselves.
Equally stressed is the word, ‘true state’ of the public health of the community. The term ‘exhibits’ COVID-19 has a different definition from ‘positive’ COVID-19 because ‘exhibits’ is simply a manifestation. Thus, a person who exhibits COVID-19 may or may not be sick. On the other hand, ‘positive’ denotes the presence or possession of the qualities of being sick. Therefore, there is a misrepresentation of the ‘true state’ of the public health of the village or building if management chooses to write an announcement using ‘exhibit’ rather than ‘positive’ if there is a confirmed case.
Unfortunately, some people consider the prescription of the law as a basis of the right thing to do. The law is their guide. Thus, if there is no law, there is no requirement to inform the community. And so, there is no responsibility to execute an awareness because the law did not tell them to do so. This is probably why there are so many laws to make sure people would do what is conscientiously right as there are people affected if they do not.
Is it possible that there is a misunderstanding or a disregard of what the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted? The WHO said, “The whole-of-society approach to pandemic influenza preparedness emphasizes the significant roles played not only by the health sector, but also by all other sectors, individuals, families, and communities in mitigating the effects of a pandemic. During a pandemic, it is important that households take measures to ensure they have access to accurate information… “
Don’t village or condominium building management represent households? Since they are the depository of first-hand information on COVID-19 cases in the community that they manage, it is just proper and humanistic to share the precise data. And when they do, there is a guarantee for households to access information deemed correct. Unfortunately, there were situations that residents had to seek the help of public officials to get information from management, such as, to know the affected building among the cluster of buildings. The public official had to explain that disclosing the building information does not violate the IATF rules. So, we go back to rules again. Lucky are the residents who exerted the effort to ask management and were responded to. Good luck to the unaware.
Our struggle and the relentless effort of our public authorities is pointless if there is a weak awareness drive. This faintheartedness and disregard for the welfare of every individual is a display of god-like power. It seems like there is a need to write a public policy that directs village or building association management to announce accurate information to residents about the state of the community they administer.
Regrettably, there is a need for public policy only because of a lack of moral values and principles to protect every individual as every life is valuable. And this is the answer to the question, “Why should you know?”
Dr. Ana Liza Asis-Castro is a part-time faculty at the Management and Organization Department of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University, where she teaches in the MBA program. She welcomes comments at ana.liza.asiscastro@gmail.com.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of De La Salle University, its faculty, and its administrators.