Towards a more resilient Philippines

 

The infectious Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which causes respiratory illness includes flu-like symptoms such as cough, fever, and in more severe cases, breathing difficulties. COVID-19 is mainly spread through contact with an infected person who sneezes or coughs. It can be acquired when a person touches their eyes, nose, or mouth after touching objects or surfaces that have the virus on it. Starting December 2019, countries imposed travel bans and asked individuals who have possibly been exposed to the contagion to isolate themselves in a dedicated quarantine facility or at home at an unprecedented scale. The Philippines reported its first case of COVID-19 on January 30, 2020. Since then, the number of reported cases exponentially increased by the day. As of December 12, 2020, 447,039 infected cases were reported throughout the country. Of the total number of cases, 409,329 have recovered, and 8,709 have died. As a response to the growing threat of the pandemic, the entire Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine. Shortly, both Visayas and Mindanao followed suit. The said measure involves draconian restrictions: that include the establishment of checkpoints in most cities; the suspension of classes in all levels; the prohibition of mass gatherings; the temporary shutting down of non-essential businesses; the banning of public utilized utility vehicles; and the strict implementation of home isolation. Although it was initially planned to end on April 12, 2020, several subsequent recommendations both from the national and local governments extended the nationwide community quarantine until December 31, 2020. As the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank 16.5% in the second quarter of 2020, the Philippines officially entered recession as an effect of the extended quarantines. While quarantine is often among the initial responses against an emerging infectious disease, it is often unpleasant for those who are required to submit to it and may lead to several harmful conditions for some persons. Hence, the psychological effects of quarantine have received considerable attention. Reported that losing autonomy, isolation away from loved ones, uncertainty, and boredom could lead to adverse effects on an individual’s well-being. Following the imposition of cordon sanitaire in previous outbreaks, substantial anger, anxiety and even an increase in suicide rates have been reported. Similarly, the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) in the Philippines reported that depression and other mental health issues were on the rise after imposing ECQ in different provinces in the country. Over the past decade, resilience has become a popular concept in both research and clinical practice. Despite the lack of consensus in how it is defined, it is accepted that resilience involves the positive adaptation following a stressful or adverse experience. Most definitions acknowledge two key points about resilience. First, is that various factors interact with it. For example, personal characteristics such as personality traits, self-esteem, and even age influence resilience. Social and community factors such as secure attachments, the presence of a role model, family stability, and culture affect the ability to cope with daily struggles. Second, resilience is time and context-specific and may not be present across all life domains. Resilience appears to be receptive to the influence of specific situations such as unique stressors like war and other happenstances. While the aforementioned literature provides key insights into the definition, factors, and contexts of resilience, most research focuses on factors are outside the control of the individual. While these researches are important in explaining the development of resilience, they lack emphasis on positive mechanisms, which are behaviors a person can perform to facilitate resilience. While resilience has been studied both in daily and unique stressors, none focused on the novel situation of wide range community quarantines. Therefore, despite the abundance of resilience-related research, the question remains “What positive mechanisms are involved in the resilience of people who are subjected to quarantine?”

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