COVID-19 Chronicles: ECQ/Lockdown Part 2

15 April  - May 15 2020

April 15 - We are still on ECQ/Lockdown until May 15, 2020.

For about a month, everyone is just trying to survive and getting used to being grounded at home.  Kids and Senior Citizens aren't allowed to leave the house because they're the most susceptible.  Bills are put on hold because field agents aren't allowed to visit homes to check meters and such.

But life goes on.  What did we all do during this time???

For us, being on lockdown did not affect us as much because we're all used to being at home.  The kids don't really go out so they didn't have any cabin fever syndrome or anything like that.  We're all pretty content being in each other's company.

However, there were moments when an anxiety attack would suddenly catch us off guard and we would all be emotional.  There really wasn't any trigger.  It was just suddenly there. I couldn't breathe. There's this heavy feeling in my chest and I felt nauseous.  Then I would cry and cry.  But, after, I felt cleansed and it's back to normal.  It was tough.

Anyway,  we were lucky that our City Government continuously gave us relief goods during this time.  Thank you very much!

To prevent people from panic buying and hoarding, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) imposed limits on essential goods. This notice was from Shopwise but every grocery and supermarket had their own signs posted within the racks.

Grocery runs still involved a long time waiting to get in because the stores are limiting the number of people inside at a given time.  Masks are required and guards that are stationed at the entrance checked temperatures and sprayed hand sanitizer or alcohol on your hands before allowing you to enter.  Store hours have also been shortened.

Here I was walking to Wellcome Supermarket.  I chose to go the longer walking route because the waiting time (30 minutes) is shorter as there are less people going to this store.  With Savemore, it's closer to me but waiting time to get in takes hours.  I didn't want to spend that much time outside.  The fear is still there.  The good thing is that supplies have normalized for some products.

  

From April 23 to April 25, Sampaloc, our area was put on Hard Lockdown!  This was a stricter protocol where absolutely nobody was allowed to go outside.  If there were emergencies or someone needed to buy something, they needed to get in touch with their local officials for them to accomplish the task.  Our area was showing a staggering increase in COVID-19 cases and the city government staged testing and tracing during this period.  We breached 100 confirmed cases among all the districts in Manila, hence the strict protocol. 

 

It wasn't such a big change for us since no one was leaving the house anyway, it's just there's this nagging feeling at the back of your mind that there's something really serious going on and that's why you can't leave your house.  

There was such a sense of relief when things went back to "normal" on Monday.  We went to the roofdeck for some much needed sunlight and fresh air!! 

Before we knew it, it was May.  We were still in a bubble of sorts, not knowing when the situation would change.  In fact, Dylan's teacher even sent worksheets online to get her students ready for school.  This was what Dylan worked on during this ECQ Lockdown.   

On May 7, I went to our Barangay Hall to get my new Quarantine Pass.  With the news about the possibility of Manila getting downgraded to MECQ or Modified ECQ, the barangay needed to issue a new Quarantine Pass that limits the number of people going out at the same time.  With the MECQ, more people were allowed to go out since more businesses will be allowed to operate, so it is expected that people may take advantage of this easing of restrictions hence, with this new QP, people are assigned specific days for going out depending on your Control Number.

For instance, based on my control number, I had an even number so I could only go out during TThS and in the afternoon of Sunday. Establishments are now stricter too and require you to show a valid ID as proof that you're the one who's the real owner of the Quarantine Pass.

This actually made waiting times even longer because people can only go out on specific days so we all ended up flocking to the store at the same time.  It also became tricky because you really had to plan your trips and your meals compared to before. 

  

So, here we are looking forward to MECQ and hoping that things will be looking up in the coming days and nights :)

Stay Safe!!