The World Shuts Down

March 15, 2020 - Sunday was a blur. It's the last day before Metro Manila is placed under general community quarantine. Personally, I have no qualms of calling it a lockdown because it is what it is, and I have no problem with it.

What's terrifying for me is the fact that movement all over the metro will be restricted, regular business operations will be disrupted, and we will not have the same freedom that we used to enjoy, albeit only temporarily.

As for how I spent my Sunday, as expected, I stayed in at the condo and cleaned the whole place. It's honestly not that different from my usual weekend, but it seems like I would be doing a lot of that in the next several weeks even if it's not even the weekend yet.

What now?

March 16, 2020 - It's Monday, and I woke up to a city on lockdown. The streets below my condo were very quiet, which is a stark contrast to the usual hubbub of activities that I would often see especially during the start of the week.

While it still felt surreal that Metro Manila has been placed under general community quarantine and travels are suspended, it didn't come too much of a shock as we were given a leeway of at least 48 hours ahead to prepare.

The shock came later in the day when President Duterte announced that from "general community quarantine" for Metro Manila, he would be placing the whole region of Luzon under "enhanced community quarantine" in a matter of hours.

Among other things, this means that all public transportation like MRTs will be suspended in the whole area of Luzon, businesses are required to close temporarily (unless they offer essential services like banks, funeral parlors, money transfer, etc.), and everything else like going outside and food supplies will be regulated.

The reaction? More panic buying. I even went out myself and queued for hours just to get inside the grocery store. I bought additional things that I need like water and other easy-to-cook food. I understand why we are urged not to panic-buy, but it's a whole different scenario when you basically live alone and have to count on your own and look after yourself.

On a really unfortunate side, although I shouldn't be ordering anything online with the groceries that I have now, it was announced that FoodPanda, GrabFood, and LalaFood would be suspending its operations as well because of this development. Say whaattt? :(

March 17, 2020 - Tuesday. I stayed inside the whole day while keeping up with the news that got more depressing by the minute. I couldn't remember how many times I just laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling trying to make sense of everything that's been happening.

By late afternoon, we got another update again - the whole city of Taguig will put on lockdown effective midnight. Yep - for the third time, we'll be placed on lockdown with more government sector imposing stringent rules that we have to abide by. I don't have a problem with this to be honest but what terrifies me is the implication of everything.

What will become of us in a month's time? I'm pretty sure what we have right now is not sustainable. What if more and more people start to get more desperate and start doing what every dystopian novel has always warn us about? What then?

March 18, 2020 - Wednesday. More depressing stuff on the news, more deaths, and more people testing positive for Covid-19.

A litte on the bright side, it was announced that operations of Grab Food, FoodPanda, and Lalafood have resumed. However, Lazada and Zalora are suspending theirs, while Shopee, although they are trudging on, had asked for considerations as their delivery will be delayed.

As I work in a startup company that offers all our services online, I'm lucky to be able to do my job completely at home. However, it breaks my heart to hear about the frontliners and other people who live paycheck to paycheck and who could not bring their work home,  as well as the homeless and elderly. :(

Later in the day, it was confirmed that Cebu got its first Covid-19-positive case. I'm assuming they'll go on lockdown eventually as well. My bad in Cebu City, who is a senior and should be staying at home, has insisted on going to his work. He's already a pensioner but took on a light-load job as an instructor because he was used to working all the time and didn't want to stay idle at home. I already asked him several times to just stay at home and be safe. I wish he would listen for once.

Anyhoo, my conscience is finally bugging me about all these things that I keep eating throughout the day that I tried to work out. My exercise of choice? Some HIIT workouts that resulted to me feeling like I was about to die barely halfway into the program. Wish me luck with this. LOL. 

Here are some news tidbits that I find interesting today:

1. CNN Philippines goes off air for 24 hours because someone (not a CNN employee) in their building tested positive for Covid-19 and the whole place had to be sanitized. Read more about it here.

2. A few days after announcing that Cebu is "Covid-Free", the region reported its first confirmed case this afternoon - that of a 65-year-old man who is currently confined at Chong Hua Hospital in Mandaue City. Read more about it here.