Personal healthy behavior is key

In every disaster movie, the plot thickens somehow, and somewhere a critical point of no return is reached, forcing the actors to decide whether to forge on to the next leg of their journey or start heading back home to where they were. Either way, there is a great deal of thinking that must be done.If the quarantine would be eased in Metro Manila and other parts of the country, what will happen?

Economists say the economy needs to be reopened, while epidemiologists, on the other hand, warn of a second and even third wave. But the needed conversation to help us move on, which sociologists can best facilitate, is on how people’s behaviors can be turned into a cornerstone of the COVID-19 response. So instead of asking what will happen to us once the quarantine is lifted, why not ask what we as Filipinos should be able to do by ourselves, so we don’t only get out of 2020 alive but also continue to live healthier and more productive lives ahead? Isn’t this the new normal we aspire for?

In contrast to the national top-down policy approach of social restrictions, the local, bottom-up, people-centered approach focuses on individual healthy behaviors—handwashing, use of masks, respiratory etiquette, physical distancing, boosting natural immunity—that, no matter how seemingly small, corny, or old-fashioned, are within each person’s capacity to do and should be seriously observed.

Global “best” practices are replete with strategies on testing, quarantine, treatment, research, and innovation. These breakthroughs are good to have, but if we are to drastically prevent more cases and save more lives, we have to realize that time is too short, resources are far constrained, and some technologies are simply not available for us to deploy at once.

For now, changing people’s behaviors, not the quarantine, is the ultimate solution to stop the spread of the pandemic. The Department of Health has already issued a set of minimum health standards to this effect—simple, science-based, cost-effective, and sustainable personal measures that are the imperatives of the new normal. This should sink in far and wide.

The only caveat is that all of us must do all of these for such measures to be effective at the community, national, and global levels. Short of a vaccine, this is the only sound strategy to address a pandemic from a health security perspective. As they say, the epidemic won’t be over anywhere until it is over everywhere. So, much of prevention rests on personal healthy behaviors that are within our control, as we conduct our daily lives wherever we are.

Despite our daunting challenges, the Philippines has the opportunity to conquer COVID-19 and make a dent in the global response to the pandemic. A massive call to influence or nudge personal healthy behaviors in the new normal should be the rallying point for solidarity.

The power of simple communication in these complex times cannot be underestimated, and is key to reaching out to the people. Real community engagement and mobilization can lead to effective behavioral change. The government, private sector, media, academe, and ordinary Filipinos must all join hands, figuratively speaking, in this project.

Let’s already abandon the idea of going back to before. COVID-19 has made that decision much easier for us. Let us instead face the changed future by doing our own individual part in this evolving story of struggle—and eventual triumph—against an unprecedented threat.

Ronald Law is a senior medical officer of the Department of Health. He is a former Fulbright scholar who studied health security in the University of Washington, US.