A good friend told me days ago that she has been thinking of closing her tourism-related business. For the last eight months after stringent entry restrictions have been implemented in the province, the business has been very slow to a crawl. But she chose to operate and kept her core workers, those who have stayed with her for the last ten years because she did not want them and their families to starve. But now, she has doubts. It’s true that the tourism sector is the most severely affected by the pandemic, brought about by stringent mobility restrictions imposed by governments . Based on most recently available data, the Southeast Asia region has one of the sharpest declines in tourist arrival, at 78% based on annualized figures. But projections in the next two years are far from optimistic. Despite the good news that the vaccine is already available, and governments are racing towards inoculating their citizens, tourist confidence may not
Missy told me she was scared. She’s on her duty shift again in the only COVID-19 hospital in the province. Apart from the fact that she will not be able to go home and spend time with her family while she is on duty, because together with her co-workers they will be billeted at a nearby hotel, she’s worried that she’d get the virus. She and her family live with her parents, both senior citizens. She also has a 5-year old daughter. For fourteen days, she will be in this kind of situation. Then she’d be on 14 days quarantine before going home. She told me she already missed her husband and her kids. She’s still on her fourth day of duty at the COVID ward. Missy is just one of the many who are facing the invisible threat of COVID-19 on a daily basis. Sadly, they are also part of those underpaid, and oftentimes unappreciated health care workers not only in the province of Bohol, but across the country. Based on most recent statistics, nurses are paid Php