Hello Steem world! How have you been and how is life treating you? I hope you are all doing well in spite of the pandemic. I for one has been occupied more than I could imagine. Working full time from home made me realize that I have so much that I wanted to do on top of the office work and commuting that eat most of my time in a day. It's really been a long while since I made my previous post. I hope to get back on track with my posting with this comeback post. ![Screenshot_20200601-222316_Samsung Notes.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQme4Bq51dQ4XUHo1vrohQr15x914paHqXRQAXXfxooKRSu/Screenshot_20200601-222316_Samsung%20Notes.jpg) We started our enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) which is basically our lockdown last 15th March and ended yesterday 31st May. Starting 1st of June, the quarantine has been relaxed into what they refer to as general community quarantine or GCQ (I wonder how many acronyms we will have until the pandemic ends). With GCQ, selected types of industries are allowed to operate but on reduced workforce with maximum of 50%. Our line of business falls into those who can do this but thank God, our top management decided that we continue working from home until the 15th. I hope they will consider this until the pandemic is over because it is not comforting to go to work knowing that there is virus in the air. Even with the relaxed quarantine, safety measures are still being imposed - mandatory wearing of face mask, social distancing, scheduled market day to buy essentials, no traveling to and from the city. ![virus-4898571_640.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmWHrgHrY9d4kmZZSqecng8WstFi2YqPzWJSNyHXiw3eQA/virus-4898571_640.jpg) ^{[Source](https://pixabay.com/photos/virus-protection-coronavirus-woman-4898571/)} Many, even our government, are saying that these safety measures are our new normal. In spite of all those who say so from left and right, front and back, I refuse to accept the new normal. This is abnormal. This is not the normal life that I made sense of the world. Quarantine in the province is way more relaxed than here in the National Capital Region because their cases were very few as compared to the latter. However, that did not comfort me at all. I knew they will exercise precautions but I still had to call my brother and remind him that they do not get so complacent; that they should still behave like the time of ECQ because we will never know which air carries the virus. ![coronavirus-4937226_640.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmSrxoM6gwKVKP3Af4BqivSAGCYXUyqvVKAEcygGAJNiLU/coronavirus-4937226_640.jpg) ^{[Source](https://pixabay.com/photos/virus-protection-coronavirus-woman-4898571/)} Many of our netizens were also posting on social media that the GCQ is like a Survivor Philippines series wherein people fight for their lives to survive. It was hard thinking about this because our confirmed cases are still high. According to the numbers from our Department of Health [tracker](https://ncovtracker.doh.gov.ph/) the range is around 500 to 800 cases per day. That is way higher than 300+ when we started the ECQ. For the start of the month, we had additional 552 new cases summing up to 18,638 cases in total. If it is of any consolation, that is much lesser than 862 new cases the day before. The continuous high number of cases every day made me wondering why the government has loosen the quarantine. I asked the question on Facebook and even my friends seem to have the same question mark in their heads. With all the skepticism and worries in their hearts, people who had to go out to work are posting on social media as if they say "come what may" and accept whatever fate is waiting for them outside. If I were them, I will feel sick worried too but I do not think I will be going out just like that. I may push back at work. What I love with these people though is that they have the fighting spirit. I think this is what we need in this very trying times. Stay safe, be strong and look forward! ![Screenshot_20200601-222201_Samsung Notes.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmf7j58aApi3JKAeHpHpUvLqsji4cpzGEt37KG8YSD2vNH/Screenshot_20200601-222201_Samsung%20Notes.jpg) ^{*Re-post from [here](https://peakd.com/hive-174578/@macoolette/the-new-normal-life-begins).*}