We are back to modified enhanced community quarantine, but during the more lenient general community quarantine, a small group of business associates decided to check out an out-of-town site for a planned joint venture. One of them is a close friend.

During their time together, the small group of six observed the required precautions of wearing masks and practicing social distancing, except at lunch and dinner, when they had to remove their masks and engage in conversation.

Four days later, one of the group reported to the rest that his company had required all its employees to undergo RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing two days earlier, and that his results had come out positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (For privacy, only masculine pronouns will be used in this article.)

Following protocol, the group immediately went into self-quarantine, and one of them also had himself tested right away. Two days later, his PCR test also came out positive. Concerned for himself and his five-member household, my friend in turn arranged for PCR tests to be conducted in his home by a Department of Health (DOH)-accredited testing firm one week after the group’s exposure to the originally “positive” individual. But he was informed that the results would be available in about a week because of the heavy testing load. In effect, this would coincide with the end of the required 14-day quarantine period. This meant a whole week’s eternity of waiting and watching out for tell-tale symptoms which might be experienced by any member of the original group.

The next seven days must have been the longest experienced by my friend and his colleagues. Each day they compared notes, with special attention to the two people who had earlier tested positive. In fact, the first one had himself retested to confirm the result of his first test.

False alarms

The days crept by ever so slowly, with some false alarms, such as shortness of breath or a slight sore throat, which proved temporary and were attributed most probably to anxiety by a doctor who was consulted.

After a seemingly endless self-quarantine of 14 days, everyone, including the two “positive” individuals, pulled through feeling healthy and without any symptoms. Confirming the group’s optimism, the long-awaited PCR test results of my friend’s household shortly arrived by email, showing negative results for everyone—including, amazingly, the person who had originally tested “positive” and who took a second test. The second person who had tested “positive” also took a subsequent test and came out clear, to his great relief. In short, both of them had been asymptomatic the whole time.

Everyone heaved a big sigh of relief, including the group’s respective loved ones who had been praying incessantly during all that time. Most significantly, the good news came with an important lesson, which my friend articulated to everyone.

No matter how careful a person is, potential infection and possible tragedy is just a breath or a single touch away in this time of easy transmission. To constantly minimize the chances of being infected, one’s attitude should always be that he is a potential carrier and that everyone he gets near to is also a potential carrier. The experience of this particular group shows that there are asymptomatic persons we may know who will not fall ill themselves but can infect others, who may get very sick in turn.

For the sake of our loved ones, especially the elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions, let us not take anything for granted. After the close call my friend had, I now require our household help to wear masks whenever they get near or converse with another household member, especially because they are the ones who regularly go out on errands. “One can’t be too careful” is an old cliché which has suddenly taken on new importance.

Prayerfulness

But the lessons learned by the group go beyond the physical aspect. My friend has realized that personal spirituality, in this case expressed by constant prayerfulness, plays a big role in every aspect of life, especially in times of challenge. And life is really one big challenge we cannot face with any success at the purely human level.

Daily prayerfulness is a hallmark of an unshakeable faith in the Divine. My friend emphasizes “daily,” because many people have the tendency to pray fervently only when faced with difficult situations. In good times, there is a tendency to pray in a casual way out of habit.

If prayer is truly “raising one’s heart and mind to God,” we need to remember, as we have been taught as Christians, that there are four kinds of prayer: Adoration (glorifying God as our Creator); contrition (repentance for sins); thanksgiving (gratitude for God’s blessings); and petition (requests we make to God). To develop true spirituality, our relationship with God should be holistic, incorporating all the four modes of communicating with Him.

A borrowed insight I expressed in one of my books describes prayerful spirituality as follows: “The practice of spirituality is the constant feeding of the soul with nourishing morsels of the Divine.”

A month has passed since that small group’s harrowing but safely traversed encounter with COVID-19. But the virus is still very much around and the battle is not over. Let’s all keep safe with our physical and spiritual shields.

By now, you must have guessed the identity of my friend in the story. —CONTRIBUTED