THOSE leading the fight against coronavirus should be thinking deeply by now especially that the figures in the past many days appear to be very alarming. Reports from the Department of Health (DOH) reveal a trend that everyone should worry about since that time the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was implemented in areas known as National Capital Region (NCR) Plus.
Because we go to the manual and the known available mode in fighting the surge of cases, control of movements is the only option, while the vaccines are not yet available.
On April 2, there were more than 15,000 new cases; April 3, more than 12,000 and yesterday, April 4, more than 11,000 new cases.
I wrote before that the figures in the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) are vital in the analysis of those in the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) considering that this could suggest a situation where movements and observance of the minimum health standards, could not be the only reasons for the surge of cases. Or there is something of a reason because the ECQ was not properly implemented and lockdown measures were not followed by many.
There is already an increasing number of mutations in many parts of the country and the NCR, which remains the initial reason for the increase in the number of cases as per reading of the DOH.
I am not aware if decision-makings in the fight against coronavirus are actually supported by analysis based on the studies of known experts available in our country, and not only based on whoever wants to take the helm of power.
I knew that with the magnitude of this crisis in the country, we also need manpower and people with expertise who can read and properly recommend solutions. Should the management of this crisis be simply dictated by those who want to control the situation for unknown agenda, then our fight against Covid-19 will transcend from bad to worse. We are not aware if government utilizes science in our responses to the situations or the same reactive mode of bringing those patients in the hospitals and just including them in the list of positive cases for record of the day. We have not also heard them using the media that could reach people on what to do with the present situation where a surge in cases is actually uncontrollable.
We can just sympathize with our friends in Manila now who are feeling the situation as if they are waiting for their time to be also infected in the coming days. Although they have high hopes that government is moving heavens and earth in this crisis, many are already exhausted and demoralized.
There is also a relative situation in the locality when the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) admitted the existence of 33 local cases and many were tested positive among employees of the city government. We hope that surveillance and active contact tracing are ongoing, particularly in areas where those 33 cases have been detected. Our city government needs to utilize all forms of media that could reach our people in terms of information about local transmission and the ongoing efforts of our EOC to locate those possible carriers of infections.
Now that we are back to work this week, it should remain a warning that Covid-19 cases have gone up and we should not be complacent. But there is no better reminder than those that come from our government agencies.