NEW ANTIVIRUS STRATEGIES NEEDED TO DANCE WITH COVID-19
eXPERTS believe that the country should learn to dance with the Covid-19 pandemic as it might be the only feasible approach to protect the lives of millions of Filipinos, to restore their livelihood and to revitalize the economy.
“The sacrifices made during the MECQ [modified enhanced community quarantine] should not be in vain. There is no more national or local, we are all in this together. if we can all collaborate, we can beat Covid-19,” Department of health (DOH) undersecretary rosette Vergeire said in a recent virtual business forum dubbed “Can the Philippines Dance with Covid-19?”
The DOH, according to her, is “leading this response” by collaborating with the medical communities on increasing contact and recovery efforts at the barangay level during the MECQ.
“We will not wait for patients to go to us; we will go to them. [We will] check for symptoms, and if there are exposed people, do the necessary interventions. eventually once we sustain this, the lgus [local government units] will be more empowered,” she said.
Collaboration is critical
SECRETARY Vince Dizon, National Action Plan Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer and testing czar, pointed out that collaboration is critical to achieve more results.
As the number of cases continue to rise, he said the government has fast-tracked its response by improving testing capacity as the number of labs have increased from one to 96 in four months, doing 35,000 tests today from 500 tests a day in March.
“We are pushing to do more tests. We are [now] one of the countries who test the most in Asia and far outpacing the other countries in [the region],” he boasted.
Former DOH Secretary Dr. Manuel Dayrit added the importance of building capacity in various aspects throughout the entire medical supply chain, including testing, laboratories. isolation, contact tracing, and hospital beds.
“We need to invest in and modernize our health system because we will face similar medical challenges in the future. Many of these facilities have been neglected over time. Now we’re trying to get them to perform at a level to fight this virus. This is a chance to rise to the occasion,” he said.
accurate communication
university of the Philippines College of Public health (UPCPH) Dean Dr. Vicente Belizario emphasized that accurate communication with the public is needed “to lower the risk of Covid-19 to low, low levels so it doesn’t pose a risk to a significant number of the population and to public areas.” he added that it is best complemented with the use of data to track Covid-19’s status.
Filinvest Development Corp. Chief executive Officer Josephine gotianun-yap agreed with him, citing that her company used the Staysafe app for “daily health reporting and app-based contact tracing. it’s important for us to have a data system to track Covid-19.”
For lars Wittig, european Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) vice president and country manager of regus and Spaces, containing the virulent disease boils down to “a matter of execution and with the significant contribution of the private enterprise. We have [also] surpassed other countries in testing.”
Amor Maclang, chairman of the ECCP’S innovation Committee and communications technical advisor to the DOH, mentioned how the return of MECQ illuminated the constant challenge posed by the disease. She said: “We have to learn to live with Covid-19 possibly for a long while. if we need a little rest from the fight, then let’s take this time to learn how to dance. We have to recalibrate our actions and improve what we are already doing to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.”
Meanwhile, Angkas Chief Transport Advocate george royeca reiterated the importance of individual responsibility to foster collaboration, saying that “there are gaps in the implementation, but it has to start with ourselves. When we go out, we wear masks, do social distancing, etc.”
“The public needs to know they have a big responsibility. The private sector needs to know our role. let’s use this virus not to be divisive but to unify us. Covid-19 doesn’t care about differences so let’s work together and try to solve it,” he stressed.