First Day of Lockdown

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Today is the first day of the general community quarantine. I call up Arlene to check how she is doing and get a litany of all the wrong that government is doing. I understand how she feels. She is stranded in Metro Manila for at least a month. Even if she finds a way to leave the region, she will not be able to enter Cebu City which has also announced a lockdown.

Photo taken from the MSC Cruises Fan Club
- Unofficial FB page

Arlene is one of hundreds of Filipinos whose employment on cruise ships all over the world is cut short by the pandemic. She arrives in Metro Manila from Dubai, only to find that she can no longer leave the metro because of the lockdown. Some of her co-passengers avail of the shuttle service to Clark in the hope they can leave Luzon from the airport there, only to find themselves stranded too because their home provinces have also initiated lockdowns.

She cannot understand why they are left to fend for themselves. There is no quarantine; she is expected to isolate herself in lodgings she must find herself in what was supposed to be a stopover. She cannot stay in a hotel for a month as it is too expensive, but she wants to stay in Makati where her agency’s head office is located because she wants to iron out a pay issue.

I ask her to keep my number in case she needs anything, but she assures me that she has found temporary lodgings and that she plans to wait for her cruise shipmates and pool resources so they can get decent yet affordable lodgings in the time they are all stranded in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, Hubby realizes he must get his ingrown toe nail clipped soon if he wants to walk around without pain for the duration of the lockdown. Half expecting to be turned down, he sends a text message to book his pedicurist at a nail salon in Market! Market! at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. He is surprised to get an appointment since she is much sought after, given her thorough but gentle hands, and even more when he learns that the mall is open.

I go along to buy additional cleaning and food provisions at the supermarket. We are startled to see a half-empty parking lot and consequently, fewer people in the often-packed mall. We wait patiently when the security guard takes our temperature and asks us to wait while he radios to a central office controlling the number of people inside the mall. It does not take long. Hubby heads directly to the nail salon while I enter the grocery.

There are enough provisions and I feel a bit guilty enjoying the fact that I do not have to endure the long lines that are usually found at the Metro supermarket during weekends. I get the items I’ve listed, resisting the temptation to stock up further on food. Little do I know that I would regret this the next day. At Watsons, the line at the cashier is a bit long but manageable.

I check out the Metro department store and am pleased to find that it carries the embroidery thread my daughter had asked me to get, should any of the shops still be open. “Naku, all the shops are open including your beloved Dairy Queen,” I tease her via text. I get her favorite frappe nonetheless and place it carefully inside my insulated bag so it would last the ride home. It does, because there is very little traffic.

Photo borrowed from Philippine Star
FB account

After dinner, we gather in the living room to hear mass (recorded video of the 10 a.m. mass at the Manila Cathedral).  Masses have been suspended since March 14 “to avoid large gatherings of people to avert the further spread of the virus,” according to a pastoral letter from Manila Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

It does not feel right. The dogs are a distraction although they eventually settle at our feet when we refuse to pet them. The warm air makes us drowsy. I peek at hubby seated beside me and see that his eyes are closed. I try to be charitable and assume he is just deep in prayer, but realize he is really asleep when a soft snore escapes him.  I jostle him awake, which sends my daughter into a fit of giggles.

Sigh. We are so sorry to be so human, God.