So close, so real.

My cousin’s swab test showed that she’s positive for Covid. Her entire household is now on quarantine, including my younger brother who was forced to stay at the vacant house across the street to self-quarantine as he had close contact with her (he initially said he helped in rushing her to the hospital, but took it back when talks about my cousin being a possible Covid case came out). 

My kuya and I were so worried when we found out about it but we thought we can’t really do anything apart from disinfecting the whole house, loading up on our vitamins to strengthen our immune system and observing every family member. As of this writing, we are all fine—including mom and the kids, but this doesn’t mean we’re on the clear because we all know that the virus has an incubation period of 14 days. 

This only heightened the anxiety that I have been fighting for weeks now.

We all heard those stories when one family member who had the virus infected the rest. We were never short in reminding my younger brother to stay home and only go out when it’s absolutely necessary, but he couldn’t be bothered with that. He’s always been stubborn and would angrily retort that he knows what he’s doing. Like how, even with our objections, he went and overstayed in my uncle’s wake last week. We’ve been telling him that if he’s not afraid to catch it, then he should at least think of the people who are with him that are susceptible. But all that plea fell on deaf ears.

The one time I went to the wake, I saw that he wasn’t wearing his face mask. When I confronted him, he even got so annoyed at me and said he only took it off to eat and forgot to wear it back. It’s always been like that with him. Our show of concern would only be met with a sharp response, oftentimes would even escalate to a screaming match. You can only do so much for someone really that we just got tired of calling him out. 

Sure, our government’s overall response to this pandemic is disappointing. Apart from declaring the longest lockdown in the world and strict compliance enforced to citizens, no definitive plan was laid out when addressing the crisis on public health services. I can write a separate post on that, but there’s nothing that I’d say there that has not been repeatedly pointed out.

But here’s what I know, we should also have the self-discipline to curb the spreading of the virus. No amount of us taking all the necessary precautions if there will be people who will not do their share in observing simple measures like social distancing, staying at home, or avoiding social activities. If there would be people like my younger brother who insists on doing things his way having no regard to the others around him, then all our collective efforts will fail. Staying at home to limit contact with others is still the best way to reduce the spread of the virus. If only some would give up their small freedoms for the good of others, maybe we’ll have a fighting chance. 

We are back to MECQ starting today after the health sector requests for a “time out” to avert the collapse of our health systems. Every day, our confirmed cases are by the thousands, and many public and private hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. Doctors and medical personnel already suffering burnout. If some people refuse to do little sacrifices such as staying home, then they must also be ready for the possibility that they may eventually end up being part of a growing statistic.