How To Survive The Next Chapter

How to survive the new abnormal—mentally, financially, emotionally

- Joe Ferreria

This pandemic has hit us hard and without warning. Suddenly we are all prisoners at home, immobilized and thrown into a new routine.

We long for the day when we can all go out to the mall on a weekend, do grocery shopping with the family, and travel to destinations we always said we would go to.

But alas, our dreams of ever going back to that normal has been shattered by the reality that we are only on the first wave, there are two, three, four or even more waves of sickness and death that lie ahead.

If you look at the situation squarely, the only time we can truly say we are safe would be when the vaccine becomes available and the combination of medicine they use to heal those afflicted start to work effectively.

There is, however, a new “abnormal” or, better yet, as we should call our future, the new “different.”

Let’s begin with your commute. Gone are the days people will jam the trains, the UV Express, the jeeps like sardines. Angkas and other motorcycle taxis will have to repurpose their vehicles because back riding now is not allowed. With fewer passengers to carry, the transport group will have to charge higher fares, which may be beyond the reach of ordinary day workers. The roads therefore will have to be re-designed to accommodate bicycles and motorbikes. These will be the default mode of transport of the blue-collar workers of the metro.

What should work would be a shuttle bus system with defined rules on commute. Heavy-duty masks are now mandatory and so is the scrubbing of the air inside the bus to eliminate bacteria using aircon filters. Disinfecting procedures before the shuttle bus is used again will be the norm. Latex gloves and protective gowns are mandatory for all employees entering the office.