POSSIBLE months when the Luzon lockdown may (or should) be lifted?
The wise paradigm of “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worse” never far from policy-makers peering into worse case scenarios, brain-storming several options to address fluid events affecting domestic survival.
The temptation to relax (partial lifting) of strict protocols for business and economic reasons may prove to be counter-productive since a significant cross-section of our population remains untested, with testing kits far in-between. Note “Absence of evidence is not evidence that is absent.”
While the Luzon enhanced community quarantine is extended to April 30, situational awareness of foreign “best practices” in relation to Philippine conditions prompts lucid appreciation of realities on the ground.
In the first week of April, Wuhan, China lifted their lockdown. Reports leaking in social media and Western news platforms unfortunately reveal “re-introductions” there. Patients who got well were re-infected.
Respective models and charts of the COVID-19 acceleration, trajectory, and peaks in other countries show a time-line beyond our adjusted deadline for Luzon or similar LGU lockdowns in the Philippines. Encouraging studies and graphs abroad illustrate variances, end April to May, as apex of their battle with the virus. The plateau of infections abroad, several months further down the road.
In our case, ECQs have breaches in the uncoordinated national-LGU declarations, violations of “social distancing,” mask policy, etc. Even assuming, near-zero infections by July, the potential for relapse and exponential spread, will stalk our society.
If, and when the country is declared COVID-free, should government gamble, opening our borders for international flights? Foreign tourists arriving from undisclosed itineraries? Or do we maintain a border shutdown while lifting internal ECQs?
