HONORING MY MOTHER | You are here

EVERYONE may have seen one of those directional maps where a conspicuous “You are here” arrow indicates the particular spot where you are at the moment, in relation to the overall layout of your present location. While these are usually found in shopping malls and tourist spots, online maps which give suggested routes likewise employ the same. Now, if we were to transpose this and tried to look at where our city’s number of positive covid cases are, in relative comparison with that of the Davao region, then the country and later the world, that might give us a perspective of how we have presently fared in the present pandemic landscape we find ourselves in today. 

As of this month of September, with the world already recording 219 million positive cases of covid-19, the country’s positive cases has reached 2,062+ million. To date, Davao city has nearly 39 thousand in comparison to the Davao region’s overall count of 70 thousand positive cases. These numbers continue to rise, and city health officials insist that in terms of the virus’ increased rate of transmission, the coming in of the Delta variant had worsened the situation, as shown by the region’s recorded 1,000 positive cases per day in the past week. Davao City COVID-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser had said that we had a record-high 30.5 positivity rate in COVID-19 infections. She further added that while the acceptable level of positivity rate of infection falls at five points below, the 30.5 positive rate is indeed high. 

However, let’s leave these stats behind and concentrate instead on our city alone for a moment. After all, this is where that imaginary arrow points, and yes, you are here. Truth be told, the Delta variant, may have had a hand in the incredible spike that we are presently experiencing. Still, let us not just leave it at that. The spokesperson had added that most of these positive cases of covid-19 had mainly been traced to household transmissions, meaning that these came from social gatherings and other related interactions. (and you might think that we were a disciplined lot.)

I recall a friend’s account of his acquaintance’s recent infection. It was said that the acquaintance had attended a wake of an elderly relative a week before and then tested positive for Covid-19 right after. We asked, what was the possibility that the cause of the elderly relative’s death might have been covid? We found out later that his acquaintance and that relative had also attended a family wedding weeks before. In the end, we could of course easily blame it on the variant’s deadly capability to infect more than the original virus itself, but considering the quarantine protocol in place at the time, variant or not, not complying with social distancing rules, might be the most probable culprit.

Alas, the poor Delta has become our cop-out alibi as things come down. To repeat, you are here.