BY MATÉ ESPINA
THEY used to be statistics. Now, they are people we know. Birthdays and anniversaries interspersed with call for prayers as COVID-19 cases rise across the nation.
Friends have their entire household locked down as not only one, but multiple cases of COVID-19 are found in a family. Another friend posted that she and her husband just got out of the hospital after more than a week of battling the virus.
A child was separated from her family after she tested positive while another friend is worried about their condition as a house was locked down just a couple of doors away.
COVID-19 is real yet despite hundreds of thousands of cases in our country, there are still many who think it’s a government ploy to rake in millions from this pandemic. Hospitals and administrators are targets for suspicions of diagnosing everything as COVID so they can milk the patient and PhilHealth.
Who can blame them? The level of mistrust over government’s mishandling of our situation plus the scandalous level of corruption in PhilHealth and other government agencies, including local government units has led to this misplaced anger from the public.
Of course, there are just some ignorant ones who are angry that their lives are being inconvenienced by these lockdowns and it is not helping that we have powerful media personalities like Raffy Tulfo who unabashedly publicly shames the DOH and the FDA which leads to more distrust.
Yesterday, Negros Occidental mayors joined Gov. Bong Lacson’s call to bring back the 8pm-4am curfew and granular lockdowns on communities where there are high cases after Thursday’s swab results reached an all-time high of over 300 new cases in just one day. A request to the National IATF asking to place the province under GCQ was also sent.
The regional DOH reported that same day that the province have 104 cases but as we all know, DOH has been so slow and has not been reporting accurately. I believe the province’s figures more because it was done in real-time as they have their own COVID laboratory.
Provincial Administrator Ray Diaz said the numbers can be higher because it does not include provincial residents who had their swabs done in Bacolod. A recent EO from the governor also ordered reduction of mass gathering to 30 percent and closure of recreational spots around the province.
San Carlos City in the north locked down 300 houses in Brgy. Guadalupe for 15 days but Mayor Rene Gustilo said it can extend to a month depending on the recovery cases. This, following the initial infection of 16 choir members that ballooned to 55 cases in a matter of days.
Officials are not spared as well. Provincial Board Member Manman Kho, Murcia Mayor Gerry Rojas, Himamaylan Mayor Raymond Tongson and Vice Mayor Justin Gatuslao are among those infected just recently.
Bago City Hospital was also placed on total lockdown after several hospital staff got infected. The towns of Ilog and Cauayan in southern Negros also locked down over 1,300 households following an outbreak that was traced to a two-day derby in a cockpit there. This took me by surprise because I thought such activities are still prohibited.
Unfortunately, that two-day event drew a lot of spectators, some of whom were actually from Bacolod City and other localities. Contact tracing these people is again becoming a nightmare. Kabankalan City Mayor Pedro Zayco also ordered the closure of the cockpit there following a high of 55 new infections last Thursday, bringing their active cases to 95.
In short, people are aware that this is just the tip of the iceberg and we may be seeing more cases in the coming days. What is ironic is that the province’s request to mandatorily swab incoming travellers have yet to be responded to by the NIATF.
But then again, that is not surprising as it seems the national government is in disarray from the vaccine czar, to the FDA, the DOH and the Palace. It is no wonder that cases continue to rise and the fear of a health sector collapse is once again there because government agencies cannot get their acts together even after a year under this pandemic.
Add to that is a president who is missing-in-action. The only reports we have that he is still alive and on top of the situation (is he?) is from his close-in photographer, Sen. Bong Go. Meanwhile, no one is guarding the situation at the Julian Felipe reefs as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana went on isolation purportedly because of COVID. Of course, while we do not want to make light of Lorenzana’s situation, talks are rife at how inconvenient, or convenient, the timing was.
Yesterday, it was with envy as I watched the celebration of the signing of the Rotary Inter-Country Committee between Taiwan and the Philippines. It was also the induction of their Rotary country leaders and it was done face-to-face, sans masks or social distancing.
Taiwan is much smaller than us and their total cases are only at 1,050 with 10 deaths while we now stand at 828,000 cases and more than 14,000 deaths. That alone says it all./PN
