Reasons to stay home

School’s out and businesses are closed, but this is no holiday. We’re urged to stay home for one main reason: curbing the spread of COVID-19. At this point, avoiding public outings is no longer just optional, it’s crucial. It’s impossible to miss this safety guideline as it’s all we hear about in the news, on social media, and from those barangay megaphone announcements making the rounds.A major bone of contention is that the poor cannot afford a community quarantine. Those in the informal sector who rely on daily work for income find no choice but to brave the outside in hopes of earning enough for each day. To help this sector comply with quarantines, local governments have started distributing relief goods, and the President has signed a law to provide emergency subsidy to 18 million poor families.

And then there are the more “social” of us—the ones who have no need to go out for work or business, but can’t stay put anyway.

Sure, we see photos of eerily empty city centers, but the story is different in more residential neighborhoods. In my barangay alone, the local markets are still abuzz like it’s any given Wednesday; street corners are still alive with the 5 p.m. chitchat among neighbors. Physical distancing? Tell that to those in jampacked jeepneys and sari-sari stores.

My millennial and Gen Z friends joke about a role reversal at home: They now have to lecture their own parents for wandering out of the house. Even public officials can apparently find an excuse to break quarantine protocols and be on their merry way.

It seems the pandemic isn’t so concerning to some. Perhaps they refuse to acknowledge medical science, or perhaps a voice in their gut tells them they’re magically immune to the disease.

Regardless, even if you don’t accept the reality of a deadly virus, even if it doesn’t scare you or you don’t feel it’s a valid enough reason to stop you from going out, there are still a million other reasons to stay put. To name some:

Stay home because you care about the family you share your home with. Anyone could be a carrier. Yes, even if you feel 100-percent healthy or even if your kumare across the street appears as robust as ever. Studies around the globe show that asymptomatic persons—those who are infected but don’t show symptoms—become “silent carriers” and fuel the spread of the virus. During this time, caring for our loved ones means minimizing the risk for them.

Stay home because the rest of us are trying our best to be safe. We’re keeping within our domiciles, coming out only when we need to resupply, and sending out only our household representatives when necessary. We’re sacrificing our usual activities in an effort to follow health guidelines. You don’t want to be that one person who brings the disease to an otherwise dutiful community.

Stay home because our medical and health workers already have their hands full. They’re working overtime, risking their own lives to attend to persons under investigation (PUIs) and confirmed COVID patients. Resources are finite and dwindling. Hospitals across the country are seeking donations of things we once thought were endlessly common: rubbing alcohol, face masks, surgical gowns.

As cases rise and protections thin out, our doctors and nurses become more exposed to the disease they’re working so hard to manage. Hundreds of them have been forced to go into quarantine.

Heartbreakingly, we’ve already lost a few of these dedicated frontliners. Dr. Israel Bactol and Dr. Raul Jara of the Philippine Heart Center, Dr. Romeo Gregorio Macasaet III of the Manila Doctors Hospital, and Dr. Rose Pulido of the San Juan de Dios Hospital all succumbed to COVID-19 after treating infected patients.

We won’t see the end of these casualties if the virus continues to spread through uncaring, unconcerned crowds. Don’t be part of those crowds.

Please stay home, because this is the least you can do to contribute to public safety. Stay home, because you are not going to be another pain in the middle of this crisis. You are aware, you can access the information and guidance you need, and you are capable of caring and acting prudently. Be safe where you are.

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