‘With many schools cancelling in-person and online classes, several banks closing some branches and shortening business hours, several public hospitals saying they cannot
admit more patients, and with extraordinary demand hitting pharmacies with lack of everyday medicines, there seems to be nothing left to do but brace for another lockdown.’
THE government has been urged to raise the alert level from 3 to 4 — at least in Metro Manila and adjoining provinces — as COVID-19 cases reached new highs this weekend, starting with Saturday’s figure of 26,458 cases.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the country’s Vaccine Expert Panel, noted there is a sustained community transmission of the highly infectious Omicron strain of the virus.
This bolsters the recommendation by Solante, which is supported by many other doctors, that the government should not be caught lagging again in taking policy decisions with regards to controlling people’s mobility, which has been proven time and again as effective in stemming the surging tide of the virus.
A semi-lockdown in Metro Manila is a hard decision to make, this we understand. People will again lose jobs and whatever little livelihood opportunities they have or have regained when COVID-19 gave every one of us a respite.
Presidential adviser on entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the private sector, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), cannot afford another lockdown, or its semblance in the alert level system.
“We’re borrowing trillions of pesos. Our debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) is growing.
If we surpass 60%, then it’s gonna hurt us big time. So we have to open the economy and leave it open but we should do it carefully,” he said. Concepcion is concerned the number of persons allowed to enter certain establishments will be limited if Alert Level 4 is implemented.
As we hear Concepcion’s arguments in favor of maintaining the economy open, we have to weigh them in relation to what is really happening on the ground. The Delta variant has been with us for several months last year and we somehow put it under control in November. The sudden rise of cases after the Christmas holidays can only be explained by the onset of the highly infectious Omicron variant, and the rampant violations of health protocols during the holiday revelry.
Omicron, which is three to five times more infectious than the Delta variant, may be blamed for the current community transmission, even as the Department of Health is still reluctant to say so. Dr. Solante said a person with the Omicron strain can infect as many as 18 to 25 others he or she comes into contact with.
With many schools cancelling in-person and online classes, several banks closing some branches and shortening business hours, several public hospitals saying they cannot admit more patients, and with extraordinary demand hitting pharmacies with lack of everyday medicines, there seems to be nothing left to do but brace for another lockdown.
This time, we hope Filipinos will learn from the lessons of police general Mañanita and the Poblacion girl.
