Easing Metro ECQ basically a health issue

It may not yet be time to end the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) lockdown imposed on Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, but it should be time to ease it, to allow for a gradual return to normalcy. The ECQ stopped all mass transport systems, closed down all business operations, and banned all mass gatherings. These government restrictions came with personal precautions urged on individuals – social distancing – keeping a least one meter away from the next person, wearing of facemasks in public, constant checking of temperature, and higher levels of personal hygiene such as constant washing of hands and sanitizing them with alcohol.

The combination of all these restrictions and suggestions has kept COVID-19 infections and deaths down. We read of cases continuing to rise in some countries – 1.3 million cases and over 77,000 deaths in the United States; Brazil now having the most cases – 156,000 – in Latin America, with 10,656 deaths; a recurrence of cases in South Korea after it reopened its night clubs.

The world total of infections as of Sunday topped 4 million, with 227,000 deaths. But most of the world’s countries are now moving to ease restrictions – Canada, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Britain. Even in the US, despite its still rising numbers, 47 of its 50 states have eased their restrictions.

The Philippines was one of the earliest countries to lockdown a major part of its territory – Metro Manila and all of Luzon – and that should explain our considerably favorable statistics—10,610 confirmed cases as of Sunday, 704 deaths, and 1,842 recoveries.

Businesses, offices, and factories have had to shut down since March 15, causing economic losses that will reflect in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of the year. The government has had to provide food and monetary aid to millions of people, but it cannot possibly reach all of them and meet all their needs.

Last weekend, Metro Manila’s mayors met via teleconferencing and Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Malabon, and Las Piñas were for easing the ECQ to a less restrictive General Community Quarantine (GCQ). But ten other mayors wanted the ECQ lockdown to continue.

The Metro mayors’ views, of course, are merely recommendatory. President Duterte and the InterAgency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will have the final say.

COVID-19 is ultimately a health problem. It has had economic repercussions for private industry and the national economy. It has upset the basic dayto-day lives of the people. But it remains primarily a health problem. Are cases in Metro Manila still rising unduly, for example, that it should remain under ECQ?

We thus urge that the views of health experts – in the government, in the private sector, perhaps in the World Health Organization – be considered in any decision on the level of restrictions in the country or in any of its parts.