DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio reiterated that imposing any lockdown is not the local government's main priority in addressing the rising Covid-19 cases as this will not solve the problem of transmission.
This was Duterte-Carpio's response on Friday, November 27, when asked by a listener if there is a planned citywide lockdown some time in December in response to the continuing spike of Covid-19 cases, which resulted in the city reverting to general community quarantine (GCQ).
The mayor also denied rumors that 35 barangays, which were identified by the Department of Health (DOH) to have contributed 80 percent of Covid-19 cases in the city in the past 14 days, will be placed under a granular lockdown.
Davao City Health Covid-19 focal person Dr. Ashley Lopez already clarified that the 35 high-risk barangays will not be locked down but will undergo an "aggressive community testing," as part of the measures to improve contact tracing and case finding.
Duterte-Carpio said the Davao City Task Force on Covid-19 is not keen on placing any areas of the city under a lockdown, for now, considering it is no longer their jurisdiction to recommend nor impose.
"Dili ingon ana ang direction sa among discussion. Dili ka mag-lockdown og less than 14 days (That is not included in the direction of our discussion. It is not advisable to impose a lockdown of less than 14 days)," Duterte-Carpio said.
"Second, dili siya maka-solve sa problem sa transmission kay di ka pwede mag-lockdown og dugay na panahon. Ideally, dapat gyud ta mag-lockdown ta during a pandemic, but dili na mamahimo kay as a city di ta pwede mag-lockdown og dugay na panahon. Ang kayahon lang nato is short na period kung maglockdown man," Duterte-Carpio said.
(Second, this will not solve the problem of transmission since we cannot impose a longer duration of a lockdown. Although, ideally, a lockdown should be imposed during a pandemic. The city can only afford a shorter period of lockdown.)
The mayor also said there is still a huge risk of case surge even after the lockdown.
"We discussed managing the pandemic if not eliminating the virus. Kon gina-mean ninyo lockdown pareha anang walay makasulod o makagawas, it will not solve the problem on transmission," she said.
As recommended by medical consultants, a lockdown must be done in three incubation cycles or 42 days. One incubation cycle would last mostly by 14 days.
She previously said it is already the role of the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic Team to do so.
Duterte-Carpio also previously said imposing the city under a higher quarantine status might affect the city’s economy, which is still currently recovering.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 policy chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who recommended the city to revert to GCQ, also said he is not recommending the city to go back to enhanced community quarantine nor modified enhanced community quarantine as these would have detrimental effects to the economy.