Day 1: Best Practices

With the looming lock-down of the capital, my family was worried about my safety and urged to go home. They need to learn how to double check the news that they share. How do I not panic with family group chats popping up every few minutes or so with articles on “hoarding”, “new cases”, “lock down”. The president’s report on the situation wasn’t reassuring at all. He was simply reading from the document issued by the Department of Health. All the words and plans were very vague without any clear explanation what is the social quarantine, what can we expect, why are we doing this? It was the same drawn out rambling about China, military, PNP and arrests. What about front-line workers like the medical community, sanitation crews, don’t they deserve gratitude?

In light of the lock-down of the Metro starting Sunday March 15, people as expected flocked to supermarkets stocking up on cleaning supplies and groceries. People from the provinces rushed to the bus station hoping to flee before they get stuck. The response was contrary to what we should be practicing “social distancing”. With people on an exodus to different provinces, wouldn’t it be more difficult to track the infections down?

We could’ve learned a lot from how our other neighboring countries were handling it. Singapore, Hong-Kong and Taiwan’s response in particular. To sum up the article for you here are the list of best practices that were done by these countries:

1. Act Quickly

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore imposed travel restrictions on passengers from the mainland on February 1.

The response: (January 29) The President says banning travel to China will be difficult since they “continue to respect the freedom flights that we enjoy.”

He downplayed the public’s reaction: “The response of the people is almost hysterical, when there is almost no need for it. And if there is really a virus going around why do you have to be hysterical? Why don’t you just go to the hospital and have yourself treated?”

POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators — They provide online gambling services to foreigners) have also brought an influx of mainland Chinese nationals in the country since last year. Why? Because online gambling is illegal in China. Why we allow them to stay? Profit

PAGCOR reported that, in their first year under the regulated body, Philippine offshore gaming operators contributed P657 million in 2016. The agency’s revenues shot up by 497.26 percent in 2017 when POGOs hit P3.924 billion. In 2018, POGOs contributed P7.365 billion, increasing 87.69 percent from the previous year. This year, PAGCOR chairperson and CEO Andrea Domingo stated that it expects POGO revenues to reach the P8 billion mark. If that happens, it would mean that the industry would contribute P20 billion pesos to the economy within the span of just three years. (Ichimura, 2019)

The president will not suspend POGO services saying: “I will assure you under my oath of office as President of the republic, as elected by you, yang POGO na ‘yan, insofar kami dito, malinis ‘yan (that’s clean),”

Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1344788-wash-your-hand-after-playing-with-the-animals

2. Rigorous detection and Strict Quarantine

“To uncover COVID-19 infections that may have otherwise evaded detection, Singapore’s health authorities decided early on to test all influenza-like and pneumonia cases. They have also spared no pains in hunting down every possible contact of those infected”

The kit is the kit. Need I say more.

Budget cuts on the Department of Health really affected our preparedness on this. Luckily we have UP scientist Dr. Raul Destura and his team that developed a local COVID-19 testing kit 6 times cheaper than foreign ones. The FDA has allowed the use of these kits last March 9.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/f0luzu/mga_taga_up_salot_at_walang_ambag_sa_lipunan/

3. Social Distancing and Cancel Mass Gatherings

This is what we are currently doing. According to the World Health Organization there are three public health tools that could slow down the spread of the outbreak:

• Isolation is separating those with confirmed infections from other people, so that they can get better without infecting anyone else.
• Quarantine is restricting the movement of, or isolating, people who might have been exposed to an infection but who aren’t yet sick.
• Social distancing refers to a slew of tactics meant to keep people from congregating in large crowds, to slow the spread of a virus.

Instead of the term “lockdown” the media is encouraged to say “community quarantine” instead because term quarantine has clear medical definitions.

Why do we need to slow it down?

https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/03/covid19---social-distancing--in-seattle-and-beyond.html

Social distancing and quarantine is done to slow down the resulting number of infections as they may quickly overwhelm hospitals and health care systems. So that who still get infected and need medical care can actually still receive timely and appropriate care and have the best chance of surviving (Mapes 2020).

Read more about what the community quarantine means for us Filipinos here

Unfortunately this work from home schemes, social distancing, stocking up on masks, groceries are quite anti-poor. The government should be including them in their policies. It is PUBLIC HEALTH. Everyone is involved.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/lilitrz/posts/114966413446114

4. Effective communication

See for yourself:

P.S. My anxiety over this whole thing is off the charts. One way to have a sense of control over things is through writing. Will keep posted.