ECQ: Use it wisely this time
Nobody likes it. Nobody wants it. Nobody can accurately quantify its effectiveness, but NCR plus is essentially in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). A long time ago—early 2020—we, meaning the whole world, were told that a minimum number of weeks under lockdown and the Covid virus would go away. That did not happen. once the lockdowns were lifted, there was a “Second Wave.”
We locked down once again and that was followed by another wave of infections. The logic seems to be that the virus is not being spread when people cannot leave their homes. But as soon as we are “allowed” to live an almost normal life, the spread of the Covid takes off again. A partial explanation is that between lockdowns, the virus mutates and comes back more powerful than before.
It does not take someone super-smart enough to be an expert at “a polling, research and consulting firm” to see a pattern and draw a conclusion. At best, the lockdowns are a temporary measure—a band-aid on a bullet wound—to stop the spread of the virus. We can all see that after the ECQ from March 15, 2020 to May 31, 2020, the virus was still with us.
Cases started to rise, and we went back into a strong quarantine on August 4, 2020 for 14 days until August 18. Then we endured the 21-day lockdown from January 25, 2021 to February 15, 2021. That still did not work, so on March 29, the IATF-EID reimposed the ECQ in the Greater Manila Area due to a surge—another surge—in Covid-19 cases in the area. This coming Friday we will be under ECQ for another two weeks. Maybe the only long-term solution is lock everyone out of normal living until the virus goes away, or get as many people infected until the virus has no one to make sick. Did the zombies finally die after there were no humans left to eat?
Of course, both of those ideas are extreme and extremely ridiculous. But the cycle of lockdown-open-lockdown has got to stop. The National Economic and Development Authority [Neda] estimates that placing Metro Manila under ECQ may cost the economy some P105 billion.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua told reporters that “this would increase the ranks of the poor by up to 177,000 people and render 444,000 Filipinos jobless.”
Thirty-two percent of the total Philippine GDP comes from the National Capital Region, with another 14.5 percent from the Calabarzon. “However, Chua said, the impact would be mitigated by cash assistance that the government will be providing those who will be adversely affected by the lockdown.”
And then the government must borrow more money—which drives some ignorant “economists” crazy—to pay for the “cash assistance.”
As for the time under ECQ and the cost, “These can be partly reversed if we use the three weeks to accelerate vaccination of everyone in the highrisk areas. This way, the ECQ will be an investment to pave the way for a recovery once we control the Delta spread,” Chua said.
Bottom line: get vaccinated. Each of the vaccines is not perfectly effective or perfectly safe. Welcome to the real world. You may even be the one who dies after receiving the Covid vaccine. But the chance of dying from the vaccine is 0.0019 percent. The mortality rate, from getting sick from Covid, is 1.8 percent. Do the math.
The following diseases have been or nearly been eliminated from the planet: Polio, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), Rubella, Mumps, Chickenpox, and Smallpox. Not one of these diseases was wiped out by “natural herd immunity.” They were all “vaccinated” out of our lives.