THE government has put its cards on the table regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation in the country.
Never mind about the alleged corruption in the procurement of Covid-19 supplies because that’s another matter entirely.
The Department of Health (DOH) has announced that cases will continue to increase and will peak in mid-September because of the highly transmissible delta variant and because testing output has gone up 20 percent.
It goes without saying then that we can expect the number of cases to go up in the next 15 days before it will even plateau.
Hopefully, the number of severe or critical cases will be under control so as not to overwhelm our health care system. Because, let’s face it, the breakdown of active cases has not changed since the beginning of the pandemic some 17 months ago.
Let’s go over it again, shall we?
According to the DOH, and I’m not making this up, severe or critical cases account for two percent of active cases, while mild cases make up 95 percent. I’ll just assume the other three percent account for asymptomatic patients since it didn’t say.
On Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, the country logged 22,366 cases.
So what should we do in the interim?
Here in Cebu, the tri-cities will remain under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until Sept. 7. MECQ is supposed to be the second most stringent quarantine qualification but, if you look around, it’s business as usual.
I think the three local government units have realized that they can’t afford to further strangle their economies if they strictly impose safety and health protocols. Not with the election just around the corner.
They should have done what the Provincial Government had done since last year, which was to consider the lives of millions of people who suffered economically because of the health crisis.
Of course, the governor was criticized for doing what she believed was for the good of the majority as opposed to just a very few, few.
Anyway, members of the public know the drill. After all this time, they should know it by heart. They are aware of the risks if they disregard quarantine guidelines. Meanwhile, I think the government has done everything that it can to disseminate information on the disease and to address the problem.
By the way, for residents of Cebu City who have vehicles or can afford taxi rides, I heard the vaccination center in the Noah complex at the South Road Properties now accepts walk-ins even if they’re not registered.
With that said, let’s keep our fingers crossed and pray for the best.