Businessmen and health experts both agree that another form of lockdown is needed to pre-empt an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases in the country in the wake of the virulent Delta virus strain. How authorities go about stricter quarantine rules to effectively limit the spread of the Delta variant, however, is contentious.
Metro Manila mayors, whose primary task is to track and isolate COVID-19 cases to prevent the virus spread, are again favoring a return to the strictest lockdown level, or Enhanced Community Quarantine, for two weeks as long as the national government releases financial assistance and four million vaccines in their respective jurisdictions.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, meanwhile, has conceded that a new round of restrictions will hurt all aspects of business and reduce government collections.
A return to the ECQ mode will put Filipinos, especially workers, into a forced quarantine because of transportation restraints. It will deprive them of income to feed their families and there is no guarantee for many of them that they can reclaim their lost jobs when stricter lockdown measures are lifted.
But the proposal of Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua to manage the risks from the Delta variant seems to be a Solomonic decision. Achieving a faster vaccination rate and limiting severe lockdowns to local areas or sectors with the highest risk will enable the rest of the rest of the population, including those already vaccinated, to keep their jobs.
An extreme form of lockdown only penalizes the majority of workers, who have religiously complied with the health protocols of wearing a face mask, frequent washing of hands, and social distancing. These workers have powered the economy during the critical days of the pandemic.
The response of the Department of Health, with the assistance of LGU executives, to immediately flag areas with rising transmission rates, based on two-week growth rates, the average daily attack rate, and health care utilization, may be a sounder approach to the Delta problem than an outright ECQ.
The government managed the rise of COVID-19 infections from March to April this year with relative success. Coupled with a more aggressive vaccination of the population by the LGUs, the Philippines can keep COVID-19 infections at bay, until herd immunity is achieved toward the end of the year.