My Enhanced Community Quarantine Experience- Part 1

Area	Oldest Patient	Average Age of Patient	Youngest Patient	Number of Cases
For Validation	82	50	22	63
Quezon City	76	50	13	24
San Juan City	86	54	27	15
Makati City	75	57	24	14
Pasig City	88	54	32	8
Manila	66	50	36	7
Mandaluyong City	70	48	29	6
Rizal	76	48	27	6
Marikina City	86	70	42	5
Paranaque City	58	42	24	4
None	60	45	38	4
Bulacan	70	48	31	4
Cavite	64	46	25	4
Caloocan	35	35	35	2
Negros Oriental	64	48	31	2
Las Pinas City	58	56	53	2
Taguig	48	43	38	2
Pasay City	46	46	46	1
Lucena City	35	35	35	1
Camarines Sur	34	34	34	1
San Fernando, Pampanga	67	67	67	1
Makati	69	69	69	1
Laguna	41	41	41	1
Manila City	56	56	56	1
Bataan	32	32	32	1
Marikina	25	25	25	1
Antipolo City	60	60	60	1
Lanao del Sur	54	54	54	1
Davao de Oro	21	21	21	1
Tarlac	41	41	41	1
Muntinlupa	57	57	57	1
Muntinlupa City	44	44	44	1
Grand Total	88	50	13	187

Data source: Philstar data as of March 17, 2020. To date, we already have 202 cases of covid19.

2019 was a life changing year for me when I found myself going to the emergency room (ER) accompanied by a neighbor due to dizzy spells. That was days before Valentine’s day, my father’s birthday. The dizzy spells and fluctuating blood pressure continued up to the early 3rd quarter until I changed something in my lifestyle and diet. My goal in the coming year was clear: I wanted to be more connected to my family.

Since I missed my father’s birthday, my brother’s graduation and even visiting my mother’s grave, I decided that 2020 would be a different year for me. Hence, I went to visit my father on his birthday, had a lunch with him, my brothers and nephew then went back home on the same day. Please take note that we do not live on the same province.

I promised my sister that we would be there for my nephew’s first birthday. I have arranged our transportation because going there meant travelling for 8 hours back and forth.

I subscribed to an air bnb site to check for accommodation in Cebu and Bohol because we did not want to bother my husband’s relatives.

All of these things happened before March 2020. There were 3 cases of covid 19 in January but they were all foreigners so we probably underestimated the spread of the virus. It was March 3, 2020 when my boss formed a Business Continuity Plan team in our company where I was one of the members. There seemed to be nothing to worry about except that the group decided that anybody from the previously identified places of infection would need to undergo a 14 days quarantine. When that happens, I would be affected because our itenerary was Cebu and Bohol and I would be out of the office from March 25 to April 13, quarantine period included. I questioned the logic of the quarantine decision given that during those days, it was the NCR with the highest incidents of PUI (person under investigation).

“Therefore, we need to quarantine those coming from the NCR, too!”

In March 7, the employee from a company in BGC tested positive. I was beginning to question if visiting Visayas would be a good decision. But then, the situation seemed manageable and some people even said that life must go on as long as you’re wearing surgical mask. Speaking of mask, ironically, we didn’t have it during the time when we needed it the most. I used to buy a box of it because December was my allergy month and I was prone to flu and colds, too.

The following week, more cases appeared and our company issued a travel ban to all international flights. This was bad news to some of my co-workers who would have spent their vacation in the Middle East, US, Europe and some parts of Asia. At this point, I was already reading how to refund airplane tickets but did not have the nerve to tell my children that we would have to defer our trip. The BCP meeting in the company became more frequent and tensed; things were getting out of control when the news about a PUI in a nearby barangay broke.

Strict measures were implemented in the company. The people were not used to this kind of ambience so everybody was not being themselves. In our family, we opted for drive thru instead of dine in. Masks were out of stock and when available, were sold at a steep price.

March 13, 2020, President Duterte announced a community quarantine covering all of Metro Manila. Just two days later, he announced an enhanced community lockdown extending to all of Luzon!

(to be continued)

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