Too soon, Junior!

This famous line comes from my favorite movie, The Fast and the Furious. In one part of the race, Jesse, teammate of Dominic Toretto played by Vin Diesel, pressed the Nitrous early when he tries to overtake Johnny Tran, who then presses his Nitrous to overtake and win the race. In the world of racing and motorsport, aside from the training, practice and racing equipment, it pays to have a perfect timing as well. Even in basketball, the timing of a coach in his substitution of players and timeout plays a key role in winning or losing games.

My point really is about the coronavirus that is so deadly and takes human lives. It may not affect those have built-in antibodies but to those who are weak and those with pre-existing health conditions such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, among others, all of them are at high risk. I am no doctor or expert in viral infection medicine or crisis management but sometimes it takes common sense to make things work. Amid the enhanced community quarantine, there are now talks on how to implement the new normal once the ECQ is lifted on May 15. There are simple lessons we need to learn from history. When you search through the net, the most severe pandemic in history was the Spanish Flu of 1918. It lasted for 2 years and came in 3 waves, with over 500 million people infected and 50 million deaths. What makes it scary is that most of the fatalities came in the 2nd wave.

Like what we are feeling now, everyone is bored. We forgot what day of the week it is. All we remember is yesterday, today and tomorrow. Lucky for us in the modern era, we have the technology to keep our mind off time like the internet, social media, TV and Netflix. Just imagine how people felt in 1918 about the quarantine and social distancing measures without all these technologies. At that time, when the precautionary measures were first lifted, the people rejoiced in the streets, soldiers and workers that were stranded went home. In the coming weeks after the lifting of quarantine, the 2nd wave occurred.

Last Tuesday, presidential spoke person Harry Roque provided us a list of areas that are still to observe the ECQ. Those not mentioned need to observe GCQ. I just hope that they based their guidelines on a medical standpoint and not on the business side of the stakeholders who are part of the decision makers. Like what Spiderman said, with great powers comes great responsibility. In our case, responsibility for the people and not for personal interest.

Let’s not repeat history in the time of COVID-19. A detailed criteria or protocol should be in place before lifting the ECQ. There should be a downward trend of new infections that are results from aggressive or massive testing. Find the high risk area, be extra fast in contact tracing and put the situation in complete control to avoid spreading. Hospital and quarantine center must also be in place in case a 2nd wave hits, God forbid. Let us avoid Jesse’s mistake on pressing the Nitrous too early! This is for our own good.As they say, haste makes waste.