COVID 19 Situation in Indonesia

On 14 September 2020, Jakarta discontinued “new normal” activities and re-established large-scale social distancing protocol (PSBB). The term new normal comes from continuing normal daily activities while following health protocols. Those health protocols consists of having an individual wear a mask, keeping a 1-meter distance, checking the body temperature to be below 37 degree Celsius, and often washing or sanitizing the hands.

The Indonesian government first established the PSBB protocol after the first appearance of a COVID 19 positive patient in Indonesia during February 2020. Schools and offices were closed, where the people were asked to stay home and only go out to get the necessities. However, the term new normal came in the middle of the year when the economy in Indonesia started to worsen. Since people had to stay home, some employees were laid off thus the source of income for their families were cut off and food cannot be bought. The government provided help for the people who were laid off, but due to the large amount of people being laid off and the limited resources the government have not everyone can be helped. Thus the government decision to apply the term “new normal”, and letting the people get back to work whilst following health protocols.

As of recent, the Jakarta Government stepped on the breaks and re-applied PSBB without even a weeks’ notice. The Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, made this decision due to hospitals reaching their full capacity with resources depleting. Frontline workers such as doctors applauded his decisions, while others frowned upon the abrupt decision especially as Jakarta is the busiest city seeing as it is the Capital of Indonesia. The abruptness of the decision, without a weeks’ notice, made office workers hurry to finish their jobs. This is because while working at an office there are a lot of files to be taken care of, while working from home the files become digital and not necessarily the same as files at the office.

I personally agree with the Jakarta’s Government decision to re-apply the PSBB protocol. Starting from February until now, I have only gone out a couple number of times that can still be counted by my fingers. I had only gone out to get the essentials, or when I had important issues to attend to, and never had I went out to hang out with friends. Friends had been asking me to hang out, and when I declined, they say that I am being paranoid. While in fact, I believe it’s not the time to be going out while in a pandemic. The “new normal” policy gave out a false sense of safety, as if the virus had gone away. But it is in fact still very real thus the decision to re-establish PSBB by the Jakarta Government. I hope everyone is staying safe at home, and limit themselves from going out.

Currently, with the use of single-use masks they have become another source of pollution. However, in Indonesia there are cases of people washing these single-use masks to be sold again. That is why it is recommended to cut up the used single-use masks so they are not misused. For a while, the air pollution may have lessened up due to people staying at home and people saying that the earth is getting better. But people then began ordering food online, thus the increase in single-use containers and another source of trash. So with staying home, we still have to be smart in every action we take. Try cooking instead of ordering food, because aside in decreasing the trash we make, the cost of cooking by oneself is a lot cheaper than ordering online.