Commentary: Have our health precautions fallen short?

I arrived in the country on March 25 at the San Francisco Airport. I was coming from Thailand and received a warm welcome back from customs and immigration. I expected my next step would be to go through my health screening. No sign of that, and I breezed right on by. I stayed at a hotel in Seattle and found my way home to Cordova the next day.

I don’t want to be critical of any government’s response, and I don’t want to turn this into a political issue. This column is only intended to express my views concerning the health crisis facing the world right now.

I was in the Philippines in early March. Already, nearly every public building such as malls Banks grocery stores and so on were checking people’s temperatures as they entered. There was a large bottle of sanitizer at nearly all of these checkpoints. Approximately 50 percent of the people were wearing face masks.

I went back to Thailand on March 10 to be treated by immigration with a warm welcome and my temperature taken. I quickly used the sanitizer provided and carried on. It was nearly universal wearing of masks. I’m guessing 95 percent of people had their faces protected. People were talking about it and concerned and business was slowing down. On around March 17, businesses were closed and people were requested to stay off the streets and many were complying.

In the Thai culture greetings and farewells are done without a handshake or any physical contact. On April 1, Thailand is reporting 1,771 cases with 12 deaths. I cannot confirm if this is true.

Based on my observations I have formed some opinions on how to try to keep my family and community safe.

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I believe widespread testing of the population is extremely important. I was denied a test in my own hometown after serious exposure and developing mild symptoms. The staff at the hospital were professional and following protocol.

I believe there should be readily available hand sanitizer nearly everywhere you look.

I believe that all people should be wearing masks in public. Masks help contain sneezes and coughs as well as are a wonderful reminder to not touch your nose or mouth.

I must be very careful, for my own contact with the virus as there are too many people being careless with its spread.

Personally, for me, it is more important to not spread this virus to vulnerable people than it is the fear of me contracting this virus, as I am not particularly high risk.

I would encourage everyone to keep the virus off of their hands. Avoid the transfer of the virus from your hand to your face. Again, masks are highly effective at helping you achieve this.

Do not touch people and avoid touching things when out in public.

I believe that this should be prioritized as a health crisis first, and an economic and political crisis after.

I have no scientific or medical training, and these are only my observations and opinions.

Please everyone stay safe, and most of us will get through this.


Gonzalo Villalon is a Cordova-based fishing boat captain.

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