EXACTLY eight days since only a handful has been left under strict quarantine status, a sudden tipping of new cases occurs.
Monday’s (Sept. 7) log of 1,383 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest since July 15, 2020, was topped by Tuesday’s (Sept. 8 ) count, which tumbled forth with a portentous doubling of 3,281 new cases. The report was an accumulated count from 81 laboratories in different parts of the country.
It brings the total case count to 241,987, of which 52,893 are active.
Of the new cases, the National Capital Region (NCR) accounted for the highest spike, at 1,420, almost a triple of Monday’s 525 cases.
Central Visayas, though, doesn’t share the same status. Since Sept. 1, the rise in the total number of cases had dissipated, notable among the areas is Cebu City, customarily the hot zone of transmissions. It is Cebu Province, in fact, that overtook Cebu City in terms of number of transmissions in six days: logging 31, 13, 37, 22, 45, 33 since Sept. 1. In the same period, Cebu City logged: 20, 21, 5, 14, 5, 16 new cases.
The NCR case, however, is worth noting while we’re still under fair weather. Cebu must take the cue as urgently as possible.
Central Visayas has recorded 1,115 deaths. That, when even one is already too many. When our degree of separation from the deaths happening around us has gotten closely painful, this should intensify our compulsion to inspire precaution in the community.
Observe the protocols yourself, but even go to the point of calling out those who are oblivious of them. Apparently, it takes a village to solve this health crisis.
Meanwhile, there are the numbers to watch. Those in the helm of macro-managing this health crisis should find reason to be alerted by the Sept. 8 tip. They better not blink an eye knowing that the virus eats like wildfire large portions of the populace. We can’t afford a second wave, not while the economy staggers into a pit.