CLEMELLE L. MONTALLANA,DM, CESE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III DIRECTOR
PHYSICAL PLANT, FACILITIES
It would be tempting to think that we are past the Pandemic era. It may be true that we have achieved herd immunity and we have effectively recalibrated our immunity and bodily traits and weathered the COVID-19 . The Health Department had ceased to post the statistics showing the number of infected persons and the total number of cases. Even then, I was arguing that the numbers are actually doing more harm than good as it creates a specter and threat that only fuels worries among our people. Here and now , the said practice was put on the sidelines and it had stopped becoming news. The worldwide epidemic called the Pandemic was strong, massive and accelerating to a pont, but did it passed on?
Cebu Province was bold enough to use its legal muscle to drop the mask rule . They are not alone . countries like Israel , Bhutan, United States, New Zealand, China are not imposing the mandatory Mask law. In an Article written by Vaamana Sethi appearing at Business Insider India , the list was a handful then , it had add up ever since. But did we really go over the hill? Did we surmount the threat and recovered our lives.
I would not give a categorical answer to the question but I would offer some real and true glimpse here and there . On the 23rd of August , I saw the most populated and largest in students enrolled Leyte National High School –Tacloban had its full in person classes , it was as one Teacher said ”exciting “ . Hidden to most of us are the parents who literally came to school too. The elementary pupils were tightly guarded by anxious parents and even the young high school students were also accompanied by their parents . On Thursday September 1 ,2022 , at Balangiga Central Elementary School in the historic Municipality of Balangiga Eastern Samar about 97 Kilometer from Tacloban , I vividly observed the classes and saw some good signs , smiles and songs fill the air and its not even figuratively speaking it was as real as it could be .
So is this the Post Pandemic? We don’t know for sure , as we have not fully anticipated and prevented the virus escalation we cannot in good conscience declare that we are off the hook.
However , with certainty , the Pandemic had changed our lives . We are firmly reminded that we are not in control and that this all part of the evolution that unfolds daily .
The world will never be the same as Harvard Gazette puts it in this link https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/11/our-post-pandemic-world-and-whats-likely-to-hang-round/ the author Alvin Powell said that The coronavirus pandemic has exerted enormous pressure on American society and forced a host of changes to how we live and work.
Right now , we see hope . As I recall the young boys running on the wide open field in that Balangiga School , the young men and women in their trendy Korean inspired fashion at Leyte National High School and the full-packed Jeeps plying the routes , I cannot help but feel a bit of relief . We may not be over the hump but we are getting there . And I remembered the Smiles and Songs from the little ones . To my mind these are the clearest indicator that we are back to the better times.
