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| (Image Source: CNN Philippines) |
Since the start of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, a handful of essential services are allowed to operate including supermarkets, drugstores, and banks among others while several retail stores are relegated to become operational online. On the other hand, cinemas, amusement centers and gyms within the mall's four corners are not allowed to operate during the ECQ period. Mall-based food options remain open but only accept take-out and delivery orders. These are also applied to areas that are placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) where mall-based government services are allowed to operate as well.
However, there is more to what people can expect from the "new normal" in shopping malls, especially those living in areas placed under GCQ. Thousands have sprawled and enjoyed themselves inside the malls every day prior to the recent global health crisis, but now malls in GCQ-imposed areas can only accommodate a limited number of people that need to undergo medical checkup and are encouragingly mandated to wear their face masks for safety and security purposes. Physical distancing in the malls' essential services and non-leisure businesses should be observed at all times. Furthermore, shopping malls in GCQ-imposed areas will have no free WiFi and their airconditioning minimized as mandated by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in order to lessen the slothfulness of mallgoers and those who are just roaming around the corners.
In conclusion, the "new normal" in shopping malls is that mallgoers can only purchase what they need, perform banking and government transactions, and observe social distancing. This may disappoint a lot of loyal shoppers - young and old - but these are officially implemented by none other than the Philippine government through its IATF in order to minimize the impact of the pandemic in the country. If you have nothing to do than just relax and have fun, shopping malls are not the best places to do for the meantime. It would be better for us to make the most of having fun and relaxation in self-isolation within the comforts of our own home and hope that we can go back to what we usually do in our free time before the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
