COVID-19 The Reset Button

Coronavirus disease or commonly known as COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. Before December 31, the world is in its normal self. Vehicles and people dominating the streets, everyone busy with their own lives. Some people braced the heat and cold to get to their job while some are comfortably inside their own home workstations.

But the dreaded day came on the last day of 2019. The first confirmed case of coronavirus was recorded from Wuhan, China. From that day on, cases after cases of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 flooded the news. China made a quick decision, and announced a lockdown on the epicenter of the virus and was later on applied to 20 more provinces. And the Philippines being a nearby country, was not spared of the soon to be pandemic. On January 30, the Department of Health confirmed that the country has now its first COVID-19 patient. Fast forward to March 14, where Manila announced a lockdown on their city. Nationwide Luzon lockdown followed two days after. Countries around the world followed suit with what seemed to be the only way to limit the virus. Below is the list of countries who imposed their own social distancing procedures: (Note that this list only reflects data present at the time of this writing)

• Spain

• France

• India

• El Salvador

• South Africa

• New Zealand

• Italy

• Colombia

• United Kingdom

• Jordan

• Argentina

• Israel

• Belgium

• Malaysia

• Australia

• Bavaria

• Germany

• Czech Republic

• Saudi Arabia

• China

• European Union

• Morocco

• Kenya

• Kuwait

• Norway

• Denmark

• Canada

• Lithuania

• The Maldives

• North Korea

• Peru

• Qatar

• Russia

• Slovakia

• Ukraine

• Croatia

While everyone is ranting on social media, expressing their frustration with COVID-19 and some panicking, did anybody thought otherwise? Didn’t we had a saying that goes “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you?" I myself have been feeling a little bit down, but I chose to view the glass half-full and not half-empty. And can you imagine my reaction upon seeing the image below? Shown is a satellite view (top photo) of Italy and surrounding countries. Notice that the upper photo shows a remarkable amount of greenhouse gas dominating the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases are known to cause global warming. This is the result of burning coal, petrols and cutting down trees. But by the time the social distancing, lockdown, and quarantine are done by the majority of the countries in the world, (lower photo) it showed an immense drop in the pollutants present in the air. Which made me think, is it just coincidence or mother nature wanted to revitalize herself?

Though the COVID-19 is a drastic way for renewal, I am confident that nature knows what is the best. Despite the abuses we do to her she remained patient. The ever forgiving and generous Mother continuous to nurture us with her abundant oxygen and lush vegetations. Yes, we experience floods and natural calamities but most of them are our own doings. It is insulting to say we are killing her because Nature is resilient. We may be damaging her enough that is why she can’t fix herself. But if and if, she really chose to hit the reset button are we ready?

What are your thoughts? Any suggestions? Email me @galvez.rosalie88@gmail.com or visit www.galvezrosalie88.wixsite.com.

P.S.: visit this link for the other part of the world's atmospheric condition pre and post COVID-19 lockdown.