I was reading the news this morning when something caught my eye:
Yes, that was from today.
It kind of boggles the mind though. Why would an advanced European country such as Belgium have such an overwhelming spike? I looked at the UK for comparison by searching "covid tracker" on Google":
Than we have little old Philippines:
Admittedly, our coronavirus response was lackluster at best, but how come we are now seeing sustained decrease of the numbers despite the easing of lockdown measures started a few months ago?
I would like to be optimistic and think that the Filipinos are more compliant to the pleadings of the health authorities to observe mask and face-shield wearing compared to the freedom-loving, put-a-meaning-into-anything West, and that is why the numbers are finally going down in a sustainable fashion. It wasn't pretty, and it still isn't in the provinces, where I hear the numbers are on the rise after a long time of quiescence.
I know it is a cliche to talk about Filipino resilience in times of crisis, but looking back people have tried to be compliant naman din kasi. Word was able to get out effectively that these are the steps that have to be done, and people have followed, sometimes grudgingly, but compliant nontheless. To bring up a stark comparison, you only need to look back at those news reports of foreign expats violently reacting when they are accosted by the authorities for having activities outside without a mask.
I'm sorry to say this, but if you want to prevent another spike in cases from happening here in the Philippines, we may have to ban travelers from these western hotspots especially those with people who are notorious for flouting the rules because they love their freedom too much (at the expense of good common sense). As much as I havea disdain for the TDK, I think it would be the lesser of two evils.
