"We hope we will see more medical check-ups (testing) rather than police checkpoints."
"We hope we will see more medical check-ups (testing) rather than police checkpoints."
We've been arguing since last month for the government to adopt the rapid or onsite test kits for COVID-19 as one way to "flatten the curve," as scientists like to describe it. We have also been wondering why the Department of Health has consistently thumbed down the idea despite strident calls for them to do otherwise.
Well, President Rodrigo Duterte has completely overturned the DOH stand on the matter and approved the procurement of rapid test kits to boost the country’s screening capability to 900,000 tests in the next three months.
You could look at this as some kind of a slap on the wrist of the DOH for insisting on an untenable position. But let's not focus on that now.
What's important at this point is that with the accelerated pace of testing, health authorities can really determine the scale of the contagion and take the necessary steps to isolate the "suspected" and "probable" carriers of the deadly virus.
If the DOH can find out with certainty—based on the scientific method— the real situation on the ground, then the government can also move with measured steps from now on in the economic sphere.
It cannot be denied that community quarantine, or the euphemism for lockdown, has been necessary to contain the spread of the virus. But the quarantine has also curtailed economic activities and deprived a large portion of the population, especially the poor and the low-income earners, of the chance to earn a decent living and keep body and soul together. The subsidies granted to the poor under the social amelioration program, while welcome, are simply not enough to buy other needs apart from food.
In this sense, lockdowns as a tool to address a mainly health issue are a cure perhaps worse than the disease, as they consign the poor to greater misery and suffering.
I understand that the government wants to find carriers of the virus that has so far infected nearly 6,000 Filipinos. I really hope that with the introduction of a more aggressive testing program to locate as many as infections as possible, we could bring down the numbers and usher in a gradual return to normalcy.
The DOH has designated 11 laboratories and hospitals to do the testing for the coronavirus. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases said there are 15 laboratories in the country accredited to run coronavirus tests. As of now, there are 28 institutions undergoing the DOH certification process and 37 others having signified intention to seek accreditation. With an expanded capacity, the government would be able to process 8,000 to 10,000 tests a day by the end of April, when the strict lockdown of Luzon island would be lifted.
After April 30, what?
Can those already devoutly wishing for an end to the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or lockdown decreed by the Duterte administration from March 15 to April 30 expect changes in the horizon?
The COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team of the University of the Philippines (UP), for one, has recommended localized quarantine measures after April 30.
The team said that while the ECQ over the whole of Luzon appeared successful in limiting the number of patients infected with the latest coronavirus strain, the measure might have ill effects when implemented for a long period.
What they suggest is to enforce a modified quarantine where only areas with a high probability of a COVID-19 outbreak would be subjected to a lockdown.
"Prolonged restriction on the movement of goods and services over a large area (i.e., region-wide) can unnecessarily paralyze local economies… In light of this reality, our best recourse after April 30 is to implement graduated activation of ECQ depending on the level of risk in certain areas at a given time. Under this set-up, provinces (or even lower-level LGUs) may be put under ECQ depending on how close or far they are to an estimated outbreak threshold,” they explained.
The team used epidemiological approaches in disease mapping. They said at least 16 provinces in the Philippines have outbreak probability rates of over 90 percent. The percentage was obtained by getting the ratio between the number of cases in an area compared to the estimated outbreak threshold.
If the government heeds their recommendation, then the ECQ would again be extended in 13 areas in Luzon: Bataan, Batangas, Benguet, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon, and Rizal.
If you live outside these areas, then you can expect some measure of relief from community quarantine. But those of us who remain trapped in Metro Manila will have to simply bear what authorities deem appropriate under prevailing conditions. We hope, however, that we will see more medical check-ups (testing) rather than police checkpoints so we can emancipate ourselves from the stifling atmosphere of an extended lockdown.