ADMIT it. There is no going back to life as we knew it before the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Government officials are talking about a new normal and new terms to mean adjusted quarantine orders but the result is still that we have to adjust to a new way of life.
What complicates matters is when government orders are unclear or come late, then there is confusion, and complaints are thrown at officials and even the media for being the bearer of unclear or delayed information.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella issued Executive Order (EO) 77 last Friday, May 15, 2020, or one day before the start of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) made the MECQ decision for Cebu City last May 12. Mayor Labella, together with Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and Lapu-Lapu-City Mayor Junard Chan, filed an appeal the next day for the IATF to keep their cities under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases.
The decision of the IATF to grant the appeal, at least for Cebu and Mandaue cities, came Saturday, May 16, the day the new classifications were to begin.
By then, businesses about to reopen under an MECQ have started working on the requirements set by EO 77 of Labella. These requirements include submitting a letter-request to operate and subjecting employees to the rapid anti-body diagnostic testing and confirmatory PCR testing for the Covid-19. Only those employees cleared by the Department of Health (DOH) 7 would be allowed to return to work.
Employers were to also provide transportation arrangements for workers. The rule was for employees to work from home, with on-site deployment as an exception.
Then, the MECQ was scrapped on the day it was to begin. Businesses already started working on the City Hall requirements, spending effort and resources to restart their operations, only to have the MECQ order revoked.
Before the MECQ was discarded, there were questions on who will shoulder the costs of the tests on the employees. The employer, employee, or government? Companies are already suffering financially from the shutdowns, workers have seen their take-home pay reduced and government coffers are running dry.
The testing requirement is no longer part of EO 78, the latest by Mayor Labella on the extension of the same ECQ to May 31. There is no mention of the need to apply for a special permit to operate. What it says is that these businesses should abide by guidelines on returning to work issued by the DOH, Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Labor and Employment.
People have to abide by the rules on the new normal, no matter if under a modified quarantine or not. But government should be clear and consistent in its orders and timely in their release.