COMPARED from last year’s holiday season, 2021 celebrations are different - the Christmas spirit is gradually coming our way. Gaming centers and cinemas reopened, even tourist attractions were redesigned for visitors to unwind. Despite the reopening of recreational facilities, the quarantine restrictions for children and elders has now also been put to ease. This resulted in crowded indoor public places that can still be alarming, especially with the rise of the Omicron variant. 

Metro Manila shifted to Alert level 2 which has more relaxed quarantine restrictions last Nov. 5. The Inter-agency Task Force now allows 50 percent indoor venue capacities in restaurants and eateries for fully vaccinated citizens and even those below 18 years old that are unvaccinated. Alert level 2 also has no age restrictions for people going outdoors. As much as this is a step in recovering from the lockdowns, it still poses a risk to allow unvaccinated minors to roam around crowded places. Usually, they are the ones who are not even wearing masks for protection, and even newborns are brought inside shopping malls and restaurants.

The risk of children being infected by the diseases is perilous when vaccines for their age group are still unavailable. There has already been a case of a child diagnosed with COVID-19 days after visiting the mall. Additionally, doctors claim that children usually have strong immune systems. So, symptoms could not be seen immediately. Just in time for the season of Christmas, people are more likely to enjoy the outdoors -  buying gifts or visiting attractions. The Christmas spirit has been livelier, but the thought of overcrowded places is still concerning for the unvaccinated minors.

COVID-19 has taken our loved ones in a way that is unexpected. The paranoia from a slight fever could mean everything and coughing in public is even agitating. 

Although we are going back to normal life gradually, the threat of the Omicron variant is still present. This is somewhat similar to the common cold of COVID-19 but has a faster transmission. The uncertainty of less restricted protocols (most importantly, the unvaccinated citizens and minors) are still at risk when one can be too careless as we are still in a pandemic. 

Families should still be aware of safety measures and protocols regardless of the ease of restrictions. Citizens shall still practice protection by wearing masks, keeping a safe distance, and be vaccinated to further prevent the spread of disease.