General Admission
No to kissing, yes to Netflix
By Al S. Mendoza
NO classes in Metro Manila and many more parts of the country.
No travels either within the Philippines or abroad.
No malling—meaning, avoid going to SM, Robinsons, Star Magic, CSI, Ayala Malls, Star Malls, etc.
No movies.
No handshake.
No to “mano po” if not next of kin.
No to back-tapping.
No hugging aka embracing.
No kissing aka beso-beso.
No touching of anything, especially MEN (Mouth, Eyes, Nose).
No high-fiving.
No to gatherings.
No parties.
No reunions.
No congregations.
No shoulder-to-shoulder contact with strangers inside houses of worship.
No close contact with anyone in queues, except your loved ones or relatives.
No Grab riding.
No jeepney riding.
No bus riding.
No tricycle riding.
No riding on boats, ships and airplanes.
No borrowing of any kind, including cars or clothes.
No sharing of chinaware, especially spoons, forks, mugs, drinking glasses.
No to lending of cellphones or golf clubs.
No dancing. Only Zumba, if not Tala—but with at least a two-meter distance between you and your dance mate.
No drinking with your “glass mates.”
No eating of wildlife like bats, snakes, pangolins, lizards, civets, rats, etc.
And many more Nos too many to mention here.
If there are many Nos, there are as many Yesses, too.
Yes to social distancing—meaning, keep at least a two-meter distance between yourself and the person you are talking to.
Yes more to a conversation via a cellphone than a face-to-face chika-chika.
At McDo or Jollibee, Greenwich or Domino’s, Max’s or Chicken Inasal, yes to your date siting in another table. Alone. Converse via cellphone.
Yes to washing your hands with soap as often as possible.
Yes to dabbing alcohol (70 percent) to your palms as often as possible.
Yes to staying at home all day, all night.
Yes to stuffing your fridge with vegetables, meats, milk, fishes, fruits, etc.
Yes to eating healthy and balanced foods.
Yes to watching Netflix, but after doing a bit of your exercise routines.
Yes to sweeping the sala, the floors, every now and then—as part of your exercise.
Yes to sweeping the dried leaves falling in your backyard and next, bundling them off into your black plastic for garbage disposal.
Yes to listening—and heeding—advisories from only the official source of epidemic updates and not of “infodemic”: the Department of Health headed no less by our very own, the efficient and hard-working Secretary Francisco Duque II.
And why the Nos and the Yesses?
It’s to address this vicious virus called the COVID-19, or the Corona Virus Disease that showed its deadly pangs first on Dec. 17, 2019.
The Wuhan-spawned venomous killer has spread to 114 countries already, affecting more than 114,000 and killing close to 4,200 already—some 3,200 deaths recorded in China and 631 in Europe’s most badly-hit country, Italy.
If it’s any consolation, there are only five deaths recorded in the Philippines.
Let us pray this COVID-19 will vanish soonest even as its antidote has yet to be discovered.
Again, only Dear God can provide the cure. Prayers pa more.
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