A video of the distribution of the Social Amelioration Program to beneficiaries in one of the barangays in Lapu-Lapu City has made rounds in social media recently.
In the video you can clearly see a crush of people waiting for their turn. The crowd is huge and impatient, eager to get their share, and crowding ever closer to each other as barangay officials try in vain to impose order. While order was indeed imposed eventually, there is no telling if the damage has been done.
We cannot blame the crowd for their impatience; there is no doubt that many of them have gone for weeks without work or without earning any income and are anxious and desperate to provide for themselves and their loved ones. And when desperation kicks in, you can expect all rules to go flying out the window.
Still, the obvious rule of physical distancing --which no doubt has been drilled into everyone by now because of this global pandemic--should have been followed.
It is unguarded occasions like these that can undo what we have been working so hard and so carefully to protect.
We are not saying that there were people infected when aid was distributed in that barangay. However, we are correct in saying that it is in large gatherings like these, of people so close together, of people literally crushed against each other, that transmissions become very probable. All it takes is just one infected person to infect several others, and the number grows exponentially from there.
We should be more wary of the precautions to take because there is no doubt this scene just didn’t happen in that barangay. It’s likely that this scene was repeated in many areas where the SAP was distributed to hungry, impatient, and desperate people; and will be repeated in the areas where it is still being distributed.