“A BOOK ABOUT MY LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19: A WORLD ON PAUSE”
It’s been years since the pandemic of COVID-19 started and up until now there are still
numerous of cases reported around the world, it’s not getting better. The respiratory illness COVID19 is brought on by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which was identified in 2019. The virus primarily
transmits from person to person through respiratory droplets released during coughing, sneezing,
or talking by an infected person. Some infected individuals might not exhibit any symptoms. When a
person exhibits symptoms, their sickness may be moderate or severe. In Wuhan, China, the first
SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified. It is still unknown how the virus first infected humans or
whether it developed into a pathogen before or after the spillover incident. On January 30, 2020, a
38-year-old lady traveling from Wuhan was diagnosed with the country's first instance of the novel
coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now known as COVID-19). The first fatality outside of China was registered
in the Philippines on February 1, 2020, two days later. Following a surge in newly confirmed cases
and local transmission, the Philippine government declared a health emergency on March 9.
From the first day of the announcement of the COVID-19 alert, I wasn’t worried if I’m going
to be honest. Because I was sure by then that just like other virus from other countries, it wouldn’t
reach Philippines and even if it would, I think it would just pass by normally. I did not even think to
some extent that it would affect our daily routine which it did now. Then when the news of
suspending classes for a week reaches me, it made me happy because I can take a break and play, and
watch and many things, then weeks turned into months which then many cases of COVID-19
emerged, and that when I felt so scared. The first week of pandemic, we can’t really go out, we need
to wear masks, then face shield also became a thing. Contact tracing forms are needed, we also need
to check temperatures before entering different establishments. And then probably one of the worst
things that happened is that school got cancelled and we had to continue and use online classes and
modules just to learn which is pretty much bad because a lot of adjustments were needed to do. From
the school, the teachers, and of course the students. This is where I really realized that not all kids
are privileged enough to have gadgets and to be able to follow the online classes as per the request
of DepEd. Some of them stopped studying because they can’t sustain their learnings because of the
lack of money. When pandemic started, the economy of the Philippines started to drop because it is
limited and of course the people or who are the minimum wage earners were also affected. A lot of
them were removed because the company that they are working can’t give the proper wage if they’re
not going to remove the employees and with that of course, they can’t give money to their children,
resulting to them stopping to learn. I realized that I am lucky because even though there’s pandemic,
I was able to continue to go to school. The COVID-19 epidemic caused unthinkable disruptions across
the world. One of the most affected industries was education when we reflect on the past two years
and the severe pandemic effects that persist to this day. When the globe quickly shifted to using
online platforms, neither society nor educational institutions were ready to accept it.
Junior high school, I decided to go online but then went to modular, and there were a lot of
subjects to do and answer. In comparison of old normal of schooling versus online or modular, we
really have big disadvantage. First is that in classroom we know you can’t slack off and not listen to
the teacher when discussing but in online and modular, no one would know. Would they know if you
copied your answer online nor cheat, no! And that is the biggest problem that the students are facing.
A lot of them also couldn’t cope up with the fact that they learn online.
In the midst of pandemic, a ray of light shunned. The development of a vaccine is a difficult
procedure that often takes 10 to 15 years to complete. Unprecedented action was required, however,
as the COVID-19 pandemic threat was putting unprecedent pressure on our healthcare systems and
economies. Because of this, the U.S. made a number of statements starting on March 30. In an effort
to hasten the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)
launched a program they called "Operation Warp Speed" (OWS). On Sunday, February 28, the first
shipment of coronavirus vaccinations for the Philippines arrived in the nation, opening the door for
the launch of a widespread vaccination campaign using vaccines created by Sinovac Biotech in China.
President Rodrigo Duterte, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
were scheduled to attend the distribution of 600,000 doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac, a contribution
from the Chinese government, at the Villamor Air Base. I was giving the benefit of the doubt since I
haven’t yet to know if the vaccine is really effective but when it did, it really gave me hope that
everything will then be back to normal, we just need to wait and be mindful of our actions.
Summarizing up the points above, this ongoing taught me a lot of things in life. It taught me
that our future is uncertain, regardless of the pandemic. We can’t really predict our future and see
what will happen. Just like pre-pandemic, we did not know that this virus would emerge into
something big like this. It also taught me that even if we hate face-to-face classes, we can’t deny the
fact that is it more effective than online and modular classes because in this, all students can equally
learn knowledge. Lastly, this pandemic taught me that the thing that we need the most is cooperation,
we need to help each other so that we can survive this pandemic and also being brave for what’s in
stored for us in the future