Thursday, March 12, 2020 - Maryland announced the close down of all public schools in the State after the World Health Organization's statement on COVID-19 as a global health threat.
I was at the office. Our TV is always tuned in to channel 34, the HGTV channel, but on that day, along with my colleagues, we were tuned in to the local news channel. We were waiting for every update from the health officials, the local government and even the President. Like we were in an end of the world Hollywood movie. The Philippines, through our President, already made an announcement of community quarantine, after new and growing cases of COVID-19 patients.
In reality, I did not know the severity of this pandemic. In my 4 decades of existence, this is the first time, I experience this magnitude of health scare. True, there were other virus scare that shook the Philippines before, like SARS, but I was not too aware that time or I simply did not care because I was young, I was living with my parents and there's really nothing at stake for me as far as my economic status. Now that I am an adult, with bills and mortgage to pay, I got worried. How will this affect the economy? The shut down brought panic. In the news, people were panic buying. The tissue, bread, milk and other food isles were almost empty as more people ran to Costco and grocery stores after the shut down announcement.
On Friday, I had a home inspection appointment. After the inspection, I went to Walmart and was dumbfounded to see that the news was real! No toilet papers, no bread. I did not come to the grocery store to hoard anything, but my intention was to get usual grocery run for our week of meals. But there was nothing. Now, that scared me.
As we cruise to every single day of the shut down, more events were cancelled. More businesses were temporarily closed down. The library announced closure until April. Major sporting events like the NBA and MLB were cancelled. Now, I was thinking, what will happen to people who work in these industries? How are they going to survive this?
We can only hope for the better.
I was at the office. Our TV is always tuned in to channel 34, the HGTV channel, but on that day, along with my colleagues, we were tuned in to the local news channel. We were waiting for every update from the health officials, the local government and even the President. Like we were in an end of the world Hollywood movie. The Philippines, through our President, already made an announcement of community quarantine, after new and growing cases of COVID-19 patients.
In reality, I did not know the severity of this pandemic. In my 4 decades of existence, this is the first time, I experience this magnitude of health scare. True, there were other virus scare that shook the Philippines before, like SARS, but I was not too aware that time or I simply did not care because I was young, I was living with my parents and there's really nothing at stake for me as far as my economic status. Now that I am an adult, with bills and mortgage to pay, I got worried. How will this affect the economy? The shut down brought panic. In the news, people were panic buying. The tissue, bread, milk and other food isles were almost empty as more people ran to Costco and grocery stores after the shut down announcement.
On Friday, I had a home inspection appointment. After the inspection, I went to Walmart and was dumbfounded to see that the news was real! No toilet papers, no bread. I did not come to the grocery store to hoard anything, but my intention was to get usual grocery run for our week of meals. But there was nothing. Now, that scared me.
As we cruise to every single day of the shut down, more events were cancelled. More businesses were temporarily closed down. The library announced closure until April. Major sporting events like the NBA and MLB were cancelled. Now, I was thinking, what will happen to people who work in these industries? How are they going to survive this?
We can only hope for the better.
Comments