THE downgrade from enhanced to general community quarantine is meant to ease up restrictions in the areas covered by the reclassification. But it does not open up unregulated travel to these areas from places, which remain under ECQ. In fact, until a vaccine against the new coronavirus is available, travel restrictions should remain in place, although perhaps loosened.
Cebu City has a significant number of Covid-19 cases and, upon the request of Mayor Edgardo Labella, remains under ECQ. The province, on the other hand, is now under GCQ because it has very few incidents of coronavirus infections.
It is possible that some of those who have been found positive of the virus are from the province but were stranded by the quarantine in the city. Many of them may not have shown symptoms of the illness and will survive without receiving medical treatment. But they are unknowing carriers of the disease and can infect—and possibly cause the death of—others.
This is the dilemma that now confronts Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia. How can she accommodate her constituents who want to go back to their families after weeks of being stranded in the city without compromising the health of their community?
The obvious answer is to make sure that only the Covid-free will be allowed to cross the border and exit Cebu City. And how do you determine who’s clear and who is not? Only by swab testing.
The governor thinks so, too, but she knows that testing everyone who wants to go home is next to impossible. That is why when she advised Cebu province residents to have themselves swab-tested, she added, as much as possible.
Just how possible is it? There are only three laboratories in Cebu that are qualified to conduct the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test: the Sotto subnational laboratory, a smaller one adjacent to it and a private lab in Lapu-Lapu City. Combined, the regular maximum capacity of the three labs could be only a little more than 500.
Note that the Sotto laboratory handles not only cases coming from Cebu but from the entire region. Because of its limited capacity, it prioritizes patients who show Covid symptoms and those who may have had close contact with them.
Assuming that there are only a thousand Cebuanos wanting to return to their hometowns, it may take weeks before they can all be swabbed and the test results released. That means many more days of being stranded.
It’s a big problem but I’m sure the governor and the mayors can find a solution. It is unkind to continue to keep them in Cebu City away from their families. It is also burdensome for the host city to have them here indeterminately and compete with city residents for basic social services that their own hometowns can very well handle.