Lax rules blamed for surge in virus cases
MANILA: Lax implementation of basic health protocols like the mandatory wearing of face mask and the ban on mass gatherings are to blame for the spike in COVID-19 infections in many towns and cities outside Metro Manila, a health expert revealed on Thursday.
Dr Alethea de Guzman, the chief of the Department of Health epidemiology bureau, said that as a result, there was an increase in confirmed COVID-19 infections that led to the classification of “high risk” areas outside Metro Manila, which has since erased its image as the epicentre of the pandemic.
De Guzman said three of the new high-risk areas are located in Mindanao - Davao Region, Caraga and Soccsksargen - as well as Western Visayas in Central Philippines.
“We see that one major factor is the lax compliance or observance of the universal health standards. That is the wearing of face mask, face shield and observing social distancing,” De Guzman told ABS-CBN Teleradyo.
She added in a mix of Filipino and English: “Maintaining physical distancing and ensuring adequate ventilation in these setings are difficult to implement.”
But, at the same time, opposition Congresswoman Janete Garin of Iloilo province in the Visayas blamed the “palakasan” (or preferential treatment) for the “chaotic” allocation of COVID 19 vaccines in the country.
Garin, the health secretary during the late president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, thus joined other local officials who protested the decision of the national government to give top priority to Metro Manila to contain the spread of the virus.
What is needed, she pointed out, is for officials, especially vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez to implement a systematic and scientific method of distribution of vaccines instead of preferential treatment.
In particular, Garin noted that Galvez seemed to be acting like a “fireman” using vaccines to stop the surge of infections in some areas as she pointed out: “That is not how vaccines should work. Vaccines are supposed to be for prevention.”