THERE is no room for complacency in the fight against Covid-19. As shown in the figures last week, local transmission is again taking place in many areas in the city and province.
At one time, the records in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of Bacolod tripled in the number of infections in a day, which is the same situation in other local government units (LGUs), particularly on the active cases. Quarantine facilities are still full and bed capacity in hospitals is on a critical level.
The cities of Talisay and Victorias have closed down their offices due to a number of employees that have been infected by Covid-19. Another friend attorney, Japhet Masculino, the provincial agriculturist, tested positive and is on quarantine at the Mambukal Resort, along with some employees of the provincial government.
Cheryl, a friend from the Department of Education (DepEd), also tested positive but have some comorbidities, thus, the other day she was taken to a hospital from her initial hotel isolation because her oxygen level is getting low. On a similar note, I am surprised to hear that my friend Eldy, the barangay secretary of Barangay Bata also died from Covid-19.
I am happy to hear that my friend Serge Santillan of RMN-DYHB, with his family, had already recovered and is now back to work. The president of Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC), Dr. Nomer Mangulabnan, had already returned to work after nearly 20 days in the hospital. Dr. Jay Estrellas, vice president for Academic Affairs of CHMSC, has also recovered and has returned to work last week.
Although we could see some signs of improvement in Metro Manila, reports from the Department of Health (DOH) in the region indicate that what we have are already cases of local transmission. This local transmission prompted the national government last year to implement strong measures to stop the spread of infections.
At this time, while we don’t know why the national government did not impose measures to stop the local transmission, it is assumed that those involved in the fight against Covid-19 at the local level are doing their jobs. How I wish contact tracing and prompt actions down in the communities are undertaken effectively.
Someone told me that this situation is similar to that of last year when you will be notified that somebody close to you may have been confined in hospitals or isolation or have gone ahead already because they failed to survive.
I am looking at some things that our local task force could’ve done as part of help for the information of the people. Since we lack information about the government efforts on contact tracing and what they are doing other than what is reported in media, they can do better if they will be the ones to share these updates on a regular basis. Along with that is the sharing of information about the disease and the vaccines that are the only tools that could help people other than observing the minimum health standards.
Still, we seem to lack the collectivity in acknowledging that Covid-19 is still dangerous. Filipinos may be too hard-headed to think about the seriousness of the disease and may just appreciate it when it is finally tested on them.
Just like many offices and organizations that even up to this time have not acknowledged the seriousness of the coronavirus that they remain to implement works in their offices as if we are in the normal times. Time and again, organizations and management should be reminded that we need to adjust to the new normal being set by this pandemic. That is too simple to think as part of our collectivity and consciousness as a society.