Malabon National High School

My thoughts on COVID-19
(An essay required in the subject English-Performance Task: Quarter 2)

Researcher:

Candido, Zaila Arianney S.

Grade 7 SPA (Aquino)

Submitted to:

Ma’am Jhoana Marie Ancheta

 My thoughts on COVID-19

Clusters of pneumonia cases of unknown source were found to be

correlated with epidemiologically linked exposure to the seafood market and

untraced exposures last December 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

Caused by a new type of Coronavirus, known as the Severe Acute Respiratory

Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Li et al., 2020), it was named

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO)

where the population was susceptible to it because of its fast spread globally

and its wide range. The most common symptoms of the disease are fever, dry

cough, and fatigue and severe symptoms such as shortness of breath, loss of

appetite, confusion, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, and high

temperature (above 38 °C). Among those who develop symptoms, about 80%

recover from the disease without needing hospital treatment. About 15%

become seriously ill and require oxygen, and 5% become critically ill and

need intensive care. (World Health Organization, 2020).

In January 2020, the outbreak was declared a public health emergency

of international concern, and globally, as of February 23, 2021, there have

been 111,633,620 confirmed cases including 2, 471,494 confirmed deaths

while in the Philippines, as of writing, there are 563,456 confirmed positive

cases and 12, 094 deaths. These data were gathered according to the recent

updates on Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. (Johns

Hopkins University and Medicine, 2021). It has spread exponentially across

the globe, presenting immense health, economic, environmental, social, and

educational challenges to the entire human population so about all nations are

trying to slow down the spread of the disease through checking and treating

victims, mandatory quarantine for suspicious people by touch tracking,

banning large crowds, and retaining a full or partial lockdown (World Health

Organization, 2020). It is almost a year since the Philippine government

imposed a partial lockdown on Metro Manila last March 15, 2020, and ever

since that day, the feelings of uncertainty and worry are present in the eyes of

many. In all honesty, for me, the pandemic causes great stress in my life that I

have never experienced before. It’s hard for me to adjust especially not being

able to go out with my family, not meeting my friends, and not being able to

study face to face. I feel lonely not talking with them physically even though

my family was present all the time. I also feel anxious as I worry about what

to do when my family gets COVID-19. These feelings are essentially true as I

do my research according to the World Health Organization (2021) Fear,

worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at

times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So, it is normal and

understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the COVID-

19 pandemic. They also affirmed that in addition to the fear of contracting the

virus in a pandemic such as COVID-19, the significant changes to our daily

lives as our movements are restricted in support of efforts to contain and slow

down the spread of the virus has an effect in our mental health. Faced with

new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-

schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members,

friends and colleagues, it is important that we look after our mental, as well as

our physical, health. I highly agree with the World Health Organization and
amidst the pandemic, I saw the silver linings of it as I gradually learn to adjust

to my online schooling, which means that somehow, I am achieving and

accomplishing something. Staying at home does not worry me anymore as I

feel much closer to my family especially towards my younger siblings. I find

myself enjoying listening to K-pop groups like Stray Kids, NCT, and Cravity

and I even made a journal about them. For me, sacrificing a little of my

liberty helps in stopping the spread of the virus as I protect my family and

others, in that way I unburdened our medical staff for not adding to the

number of their potential patients. I feel that I contributed to our country in the

fight against COVID-19 by adhering to their guidelines including staying at

home for school children like me, for adults not beyond 65 years old they must

wear a mask and face shield when going out, and most important is seeking

medical attention when they feel they are experiencing COVID-19 related

symptoms. As a student, it is my small way of coping and becoming more

resilient as I adapt to what life throws at us. On the other hand, I acknowledge

that we might have a different way of seeing things, maybe some of us are

thriving in this crisis, some may say that they are mostly doing okay, others

are still struggling to keep it together, some could still be overwhelmed and

still on their way on gaining control over their lives, while some were totally

lost and still broken. I wish that if only most Filipinos could always think of

the welfare of others and being sensitive to the struggles and their needs, no

one has to suffer alone, and with the help of the experts in the field of science

we can win this fight against the pandemic together.

References:

Johns Hopkins University (2021). COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for

Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Retrieved February 23, 2021,
from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Li, X., Wang, W., Zhao, X., Zai, J., Zhao, Q., Li, Y., & Chaillon, A. (2020,
February 14). Transmission dynamics and evolutionary history of
2019‐nCoV. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25701

World Health Organization. (2021). Mental Health and COVID-19. Retrieved

February 23, 2021 from https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-
substance-use/covid-19

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus. Retrieved October 10, 2020,

from https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus