Locked in Luzon

AS OF press time, the Palace has just announced the issuance over the weekend of a memorandum placing the entire Luzon under “enhanced community quarantine.”

In broad strokes, what this supposedly means is as follows: suspension of transportation, regulation of provision for food and essential health services, heightened presence of uniformed personnel, and strict quarantine in all households.

Is this a proportionate response to the coronavirus? It would appear to be so given the relative immaturity of our public healthcare system, especially when it pertains to dealing with outbreaks of infectious diseases. We have a very high mortality rate when compared to our ASEAN neighbors.

Metro Manila had very light vehicular traffic on Monday, the day the still un-enhanced community quarantine was still being implemented. But what was noticeable was the chaotic situation near the points of entry to Metro Manila.

Social distancing was first to be waylaid, as throngs of people jostled for public transportation. Police and military personnel were also put at risk as they guarded 

ingress to the national capital and interacted with thousands of commuters without proper protective gear.

We are clueless as to how this decision to enhance community quarantine was reached even before 24 hours of the original quarantine had lapsed. We hope that it was not solely the result of that sorry debacle at the entry points, because if that were the case then this reflects the utter lack of a holistic approach to this public health crisis.

For instance, a huge sector gets their daily bread from providing public transportation services to the largely public commuting Metro Manila population. We hope there was due consideration of their welfare, as well as of the hundreds of thousands who rely on the informal economy for their subsistence.

In the meantime, provinces and cities outside of Metro Manila, including those in the Visayas and Mindanao, are still waiting with bated breath for the arrival of their testing kits when government had more than a month preparing for a worsening situation. No test, no positive or negative results. How credible therefore is any touted claim of relative success?

There are endless considerations in coming out with draconian solutions to a worsening public health crisis. These responsibilities fall almost wholly on the executive department, highlighting once more the importance of a competent complement of personnel manning the fort.

As this is being typed, the presidential spokesperson has been all over TV announcing several things that an enhanced community quarantine would entail. He has announced, for instance, that banks will be restricted to ATM operations, prompting several queues to the neighborhood machines. 

In the meantime, the public is waiting for the President to validate all those trickles of information that are suspending everybody from a tenuous hook of shock and disbelief. We can only hope for the best, but we may as well continue to expect the worst./PN

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