EDITOR’S NOTE: There has been a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases across many states in the US due to recent changes in mask mandates. The Omicron+ variant continues to be highly transmissible. Due to vaccinations and changes in the virus, the risk of hospitalization and death is much lower. It is still very important if you have any symptoms (sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, fever, fatigue, etc) to stay home until you have been fever-free for at least three days and to wear a mask when around family members or in public until you are symptom-free.
In Guam, COVID-19 is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Tomorrow, April 19, if things continue the way they are, the outdoor mask comes off. Guamineans will have claimed a minute victory over their lives.
But communities everywhere do need to still be weary, lest they become like China… birth place of the coronavirus.
It seem Shanghi, China’s most populous city, is in the thick of things … again … right now with coronavirus. It has surged once more.
“(It) has been under strict orders in an effort to control a coronavirus outbreak. Its 25 million residents have been trapped at home, struggling to feed themselves or get medical help for sick family members. Others have been corralled into makeshift quarantine centers and temporary hospitals, unsure when they will be allowed to leave.”
Now, residents text to each other for group-purchase of foods and medical supplies:
“Good morning, Mr. Chen. Are you going to ship our products today?”
– – –
“The current situation is that our shipping capacity is severely limited. We are trying our best to find a solution.”
– – –
“You said on Sunday that we should be able to receive the goods today or tomorrow. Please help us rush the shipment. Our neighborhood has already made a complaint to the State Council. Because since April 2, we have only received one package of supplies with one carrot, one yam and one cabbage. Really, many elderly people are going to starve.”
– – –
“The government has been ignoring our neighborhood, the Changfeng Street in Putuo District.”
– – –
“But our neighborhood is in great crisis.”
– – –
“Thank you very much. It is really very urgent for us right now.”
– – –
The hardship is extreme in Shanghi. And it’s real. Elsewhere around the world, restrictions have been lifted in some places. While in others, it has been strengthened.
Some headline news varies from place to place:
“Disease trackers are monitoring the spread of new, highly transmissible versions of the omicron variant in New York state and Europe.”
“South Korea is lifting most COVID-19 restrictions as case numbers drop.”
“More Chinese are looking to lockdown as outbreak spread.”
And the different tunes continue to chime in…
Back on Guam, again, things are looking like it will be finally back to some normalcy. Even in Federated States Micronesia, the repatriation flight is once again back on… to eventually back on to a full schedule of regular flights.
In FSM, the thought of opening up comes with mixed feelings. On the one hand, folks are tired even though they have never had COVID in country; they want to experience fully what’s been missing for the past two years.
On the other, they don’t want to end up like Shinghai here. So, they’d want to open up slowly with caution. They would not want the “unthinkable” happened in one their small, yet unprepared communities. It would be, to say the least, a major disaster of the century, a total annihilation of a people.
At any rate, on May 3rd though, if Guam stays on the same path it’s been on, restrictions will competely come off.
Now, having said that, it does not mean there is no presence of COVID whatsoever anymore. It just simply means that the virus is more controlled, the office of the governor had said. And, thus, the control of the quality of the life is tad much more… preciously freer!