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No Time to Let Your Guard Down

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Twinkling with Ninfa R. Leonardia

All dressed up and no place to go? Is that what is going to happen to the early delegations that arrived for the Olympics supposed to take place in Tokyo this time? Well, as of this writing, I am not sure yet if the games will actually take place, and what will happen to the countries whose delegations have already arrived. Will they insist on playing as scheduled, and will there be enough opposing teams to play with? The bad news is that COVID cases are reported to be rising in Japan and of those, no less than 58 cases are said to be linked to the Olympics!

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What a game-spoiler this COVID really is. But one wonders why some countries insist on sending delegations, knowing the health situation, not only in Tokyo, the site of the games this year, but also in other parts of Asia, and even in the countries that are sending delegations to compete. So far, I do not have an idea what is going to take place. Are they sending home the delegations that have already arrived, or will they accommodate the eager beavers with some spur of the moment competitions? That is, if early arrivals have not already fled for home after realizing the situation!

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While COVID cases are rising in Japan and some other Asian countries, what is rising in some parts of Europe are flood waters that seem to approximate those of the days of Noah, prompting him to build his ark. If these floods and other calamities were sent by God, the way the floods were sent during Noah’s time, maybe there are countries or races that He may consider worth saving, as He did Noah, his family and the pairs of animals they brought  into the ark with them. Even there you can see how God foresees everything – the animals brought by Noah to the ark were in pairs – male and female – so they could reproduce and help mankind later!

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It is not only the Olympics that is being affected by this pandemic, the World Health Organization has warned the people of Libya, Iraq and Tunisia against going on with their Muslim celebrations to prevent the further spread of the COVID, that seems not to be seeing an end soon. For certainly, such traditional rites will call together thousands of devotees and it cannot be discounted that there could be infected people among them who may be “super-spreaders”, which is a newly introduced term in the medical lingo, for those who bring the virus with them, and share them with hundreds, even thousands of those they come in contact with.

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Perhaps other countries should take a cue from Israel. Reports from that country say that criminal charges are being made against those who break quarantine rules. This was after they recorded no less than 1,000 cases last Friday alone! If that is not enough to put the fear of the virus into everyone’s heart, I don’t know what can. Even religious activities are being affected by this pandemic. I hear that Muslim pilgrims to Mecca will be limited this year. I am sure even Rome will have limits for pilgrims, too. Anyway, this is no time to go on pilgrimages, one can never tell where he or she will meet the virus on the way!

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Another country that has been badly hit by floods is Germany. Knowing as we do how sturdily Germans construct their homes and everything they manufacture, it is almost unbelievable to think that some houses there could also collapse and be swept away by flood waters. They say that history repeats itself. Are these incidents indications that, indeed, it can, because we do know of floods sent by God as a punishment for sinful people in ancient history, and as recorded in the Bible.

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I shouldn’t mind because I no longer travel by air as I used to. But what do those who do so frequently these days think of the plan – or is it already a done deal – to move the country’s international airport to Clark? How many minutes, or hours would travel by land from Clark to Manila, or Makati take? Will land transport from Clark be provided by the airlines as well? Of course that would be an  addition  to  one’s fare, would it not? I guess nobody has protested against it, which is why it seems to be done deal now.

***

Now, this is not what we can call good news. CNN reports said yesterday that COVID cases have been rising in Japan with the Olympic games set to start in just three days. How will that affect participation in the world famous competitions? But it is not only in Japan, England is also reported to have surging cases, even as it lifted restrictions. Even the British Prime Minister has announced that he is self-isolating himself. This after he was also announced to be undergoing daily testing! So is no time to let your guard down, this virus can sneak on you anytime, anywhere!*

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