FOR months and weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed by the World Health Organization in 2020, the world has been stormed with numbers and statistics as data and as basis for people around the world to understand the risks, threats and deadly impact of COVID-19.

At the rate the numbers were being dished out by health authorities worldwide, one would think that without the title as “Active cases, Confirmed cases, Recovered and Deaths,” it’s like a contest in numbers among nations, regions, provinces, towns and cities that those with the lowest numbers are ahead of the game just like the way the game of golf is scored.

Worse, the pandemic is about an unseen virus with common symptoms of flu but until a test is done, one is not certain one has been infected with the COVID-19 virus. Even worse, people are expected to understand whether one is infected with a particular variant, whether it’s Alpha, Beta or Delta, leaving people wondering what they are truly sick of.

To help people imbibe the urgent need to protect themselves, their families and friends, government must change its form of communicating the pandemic to the people. It should educate people with stories, not with numbers. People can best understand and learn from circumstances, i.e., how, why, and where the person was infected. People need verifiable facts of situations without needing to know the names.

Health officials should begin to tell stories how some patients got infected, how low or high was the immune system of the patient/victim, what and where the person caught the infection, etc. Without narratives like these, people will simply continue to live in fear of the unknown but worse, they don’t know how to best protect themselves and their families

Unbeaten

BOTH provoked the fray.  When Manny Pacquiao ranted that he was not satisfied with President Duterte’s handling of the South China Sea row with China, he was roundly rebuked by Mr. Duterte. The President said: “His (Pacquiao’s) understanding of foreign relations is shallow.  He should study more.” Pacquiao dropped out of school at age 14.

When Manila Mayor Isko Moreno obliquely hit the President’s perceived plan to make his daughter, Sara, succeed him in Malacanang, saying: “I hate the practice of inheriting political power,” Moreno absorbed a stinging counterpunch from Mr. Duterte.  Unearthing Moreno’s otherwise murky movie history of appearing in cheap sexy flicks portraying him in a skimpy bikini, the President said: “Is this the kind of person (Moreno) you want to lead your country?” As a foe, Mr. Duterte has proven himself to be tough as nails.  That’s why he’s unbeaten in the political arena.  Beware.

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