Break the chain

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- I hear chirping everywhere that wakes me up early morning. The old black crow that goes quacking as it lands in the backyard for worms, bugs and cockroaches has returned too. The birds are back. That means the trees, the green canopy and air which are part of their domain are clean.

Proof of it is the big drop in air pollution across Luzon. That was reported on environmental data analysis two weeks ago which showed that levels of toxic pollutants went down because traffic remained off the roads.

Blame it on the lockdown on March 15, 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Earth's Ozone layer started healing itself. And as I said in a previous column, this is an act of God, a blessing in disguise of a pandemic.

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The choice is ours. It is either the lockdown is lifted and risk the possibility of a recurrence of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), or stay quarantined in our houses until the pandemic flattens.

           It is also a difficult choice between staying locked within the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and reopening the economy to recover the money that was lost during the 45-day lockdown.

            As of now, nobody is sure if one who was treated of COVID-19 has become immune from getting sick of the disease a second time. It is like the common bug or cough and cold that people experience many times in a year.

            Although that is the reality with viruses, medical experts say there are many possibilities around us that we as a community can take advantage of, as long as we have the patience and discipline.

However, there is a need for our leaders to be guided by scientific studies that may lead them to make decisions prior to reopening businesses or extending the ECQ until there are no more persons getting infected.

            These include the government’s capacity to test, isolate and lessen the cases of infection as explained by the Department of Health while no vaccine has been discovered.

            In line with the directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippines is doing what other countries are doing, including rapid-testing of all possible COVID-Positive suspects to be able to classify them accordingly.

            Meanwhile, what patient and disciplined citizens can do is to help break the chain of being carriers of the virus by being immobile. Simply stay at home, do odd things or do nothing.

            For as long as the race to finding a vaccine against the invisible enemy is on, authorities will not find it easy to decide on lifting the ECQ, unless the numbers go near the zero mark. This can be attained by staying home.

            On the other hand, lifting the lockdown and allowing businesses to reopen will possibly cause a spike or a recurrence of the dreadful virus, a second wave of infections that all countries fear.

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            Lately, it was noticed that residents were getting bored of being locked in the ECQ while the police who were tasked to enforce social distancing in public places such as markets were quite confused because of the number of people walking around.

            There were reports of cockfighting or “tupada” in several locations, including Asin Road, boxing matches in Manila, which were all contrary to the enforcement of social distancing.

            Even President Duterte received such report which forced him to order the police to give no space for complacency in the enforcement of physical distancing especially on the last leg of the ECQ.

            If the Inter Agency Task Force on Infectious Diseases (IATF-ID) sees no sign of breaking the chain or cutting off the source of the coronavirus, this might guide them to extend the ECQ and be stricter in enforcing social distancing and the wearing of face masks.  

            Come to think of what one DOH official said, the people are really the first frontliners because they are on the first line of defense as possible target-recipients of the killer virus. The health workers at hospitals are second frontliners who treat patients already infected with COVID-19.

            That is why health officials keep on stressing that it is important that people stay at home, avoid traveling and stay away from crowds in order to stop virus transmission from one person to as many as more than two.

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            By the way, President Duterte has tasked DSWD and barangay officials to seek people who have been overlooked in the distribution of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), and those delisted but are real beneficiaries.

He did not speak the correct words to explain why, but in mumbling side remarks as he always does, it was clear that if people do not have the money to buy food, their empty stomachs, hungry and crying children will force them to go out on the streets to commit crimes and cause social unrest.

Once the situation reaches that point, all the efforts accomplished in the fight against COVID-19 will go to waste. The lockdown, sacrifices, the time and money spent to fight coronavirus, including the deaths of our medical workers will be worthless just because the SAP fund was not shared properly.

The DSWD should take President Duterte’s challenge seriously and reconsider interviewing again applicants whose names were delisted with doubt. Otherwise he said that his recourse is to steer the military and police to be stricter, short of declaring Martial Law, once social unrest occurs