Individual responsibility up as restrictions are eased

The two-month lockdown officially described as Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for Metro Manila and all of Luzon ended last Friday, May 15, along with the State of Calamity for the rest of the country. Most of the regions and provinces of the country are now officially under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with a much lower level of restrictions.

But Metro Manila, Laguna, and Cebu City are in a special category – no longer under ECQ but not yet GCQ. The COVID-19 infections are down but they remain high-risk and so these three areas, which have the biggest concentrations of businesses and workers in the country, have been assigned a special category. It is Modified ECQ – between ECQ and GCQ.

There has been a general improvement in the national COVID-19 situation, but in many countries that eased restrictions, there have been second waves of infections. “We want to restart the economy, but not at the expense of having a second wave,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. Such a second wave would be devastating to the country and would close anew Metro Manila, Laguna, and Cebu City.

As part of the gradual easing of restrictions, the government has asked private companies to adopt systems that will limit the number of workers – such as fewer workdays, alternate workdays, only 50 percent of the workers reporting at any single time. This is to avoid big gatherings in offices or in factories that make it possible for the virus to jump from one person to another.

In Metro Manila, the biggest problem is in the mass transport systems – buses and light rails. The Department of Labor and Employment estimates that some 2.5 million workers have been displaced in the two months of the lockdown.

The companies may find a way to assign them work spaces that follow the rule of social distancing – at least one meter from each other. But such distancing will be difficult in the light rail coaches and buses. Malacañang has, therefore, urged private companies to provide shuttle services for their employees.

There is also a growing move to encourage biking to work. Scooters, motorcycles, and singlepassenger tricycles will also help relieve the crush of passengers in the mass transport systems.

Between the government and the private sector, solutions are bound to be found for all these problems. Ultimately, however, the success of all these anti-COVID-19 efforts lies with the people. The government restrictions served to keep the people at home. Now that the restrictions are being lifted, the responsibility is shifting to each individual citizen.

Each one must continue to maintain social distancing. Each one must continue to wear a face mask. Each one must continue to maintain the habit of frequent washing of hands and using alcohol and other sanitizing substances. Each one must not forget that in all instances, he or she is the one at risk.

We hope that in this next level of quarantine restrictions, we will be able to return slowly to the lives we used to lead before the COVID-19 pandemic. If everyone does his/her part, it can be done.