The worst is far from over

By Leonardo Micua

 

JUST as we were about to write this column, the social media was abuzz with reports that the UK-COVID-19 variant, described personally by President Duterte as a “monster virus”, has already managed to enter the Philippines. And this happened as the anti-COVID-19 vaccine was about to be delivered by foreign manufacturers with which the government had signed a purchase order with.

Reports said that the virus was transported to the country by a 29-year-old man from Quezon City who traveled to Dubai on December 7 and returned to the country on January 7. After undergoing the mandatory swab given to all incoming passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, he was found to be COVID-19 positive. But it was only after a week, when the result of the genome sequencing of his samples turned out positive for the UK virus strain.

Although this is not something good, this is not the end of the world for us. I personally consider this as a challenge to all of us not to lower our guard against the virus that should give us the more reasons to strictly follow all the minimum healthy and safety standards prescribed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases, which are the wearing of masks and face shields, frequent washing of hands with soap and water or alcohol, and that social and physical distancing shall be maintained always.

But we cannot just grin and bear it.

Life will be tougher for us but with our unbinding faith and spirit plus our determination, especially now that the vaccine is finally coming soon, there is no reason we cannot get out from the hole that we are in now.

Although authorities assured us that aggressive contact tracing is being done on all the close contacts of the first Filipino UK COVID-19 variant positive, it is imperative for the provincial government to order a stricter border control and prevent undocumented Locally Stranded Individuals, especially from Metro Manila to enter.

Knowing that there have been attempts in the past to enter our province by presenting fake travel documents, particularly medical certificates, our police officers manning our border control points cannot afford to let their guards down.

And, while waiting for any vaccine of whatever brand to arrive, we owe it to ourselves to be part of the solution rather than the problem by following future dictates of government strictly to meet this new challenge.

From all indications, the worst is far from over.

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I am not at all impressed with the measures taken by Mayor Brian Lim in order to stave off the rising active cases in Dagupan, which as of this writing has climbed to 217, the highest ever recorded since the city was struck by the contagion in mid-March last year.  

First of all, these are all reactionary, acting only when his whole house is already on fire, forgetting the well-accepted dictum for generations that prevention is better than the cure. He was naïve to believe that our situation will improve without closely monitoring  and strictly enforcing the health and distancing protocols.  

While he ordered the closure of the market every Thursday of the week for disinfection, he spared the overstaying baratillo at the entrance of the public market, not realizing it also needs disinfection since it has become a catch net for COVID-19. 

The reimposition of the liquor ban as well as the return of the 10 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. curfew were actually a reiteration of his order on January 4 when the number of active COVID-19 cases was dramatically rising and already implemented in all of the city the next day.  

The temporary ban on swimming at Tondaligan Beach should have been made months earlier because the crowd visiting the beach to swim, some of whom are visitors, have long been spotted to be violating the IATF protocol on physical distancing.  

On his directive finally to barangay captains to strictly enforce the health and safety protocols in their respective areas and start arresting violators, it is an admission he has never done it from the very start of the quarantine when all of Luzon was placed under lockdown.  

The only thing new was his directive closing the cockpit arena in Lucao where the aficionados not only from Dagupan but also other places converge weekly, promoting the transmission of the virus because of non-observance of health and safety protocols inside the arena. 

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