A new strategic response plan: Consolidate forces in fighting COVID-19
The Philippines, as of June 21, has one of the world’s longest lockdowns, at 98 days, counting from March 15. It is time we raise two consequential questions: 1) With 98 days of lockdown, are we winning the fight against the COVID-19 threat? 2) Are our sacrifices from the draconian lockdown measures enforced by the government for 98 days worth it? To both questions, my answer is NO!
From April 1 to 30, the positive cases reported by the Department of Health averaged 243.5 per day. From May 1 to 31, the average was 309.6; and in the first 21 days of June, it was 561.8! In terms of cumulative cases, it was 2,311 as of April 1, and 30,052 as of June 21 — an unimaginable increase of 1,200.3 percent over that 82-day period. These numbers say we are nowhere near “flattening the curve.”
We need a new strategic response plan that gives priority to isolating and blocking the sources of community transmission, cutting the chain of infections at the roots, and halting the spread of the virus. And we need a plan that will enable the full reopening of our economy soonest—before businesses are bankrupted beyond help, and before hunger and diseases hit the jobless, the poor, and the most vulnerable among us.
As part of “consolidation of forces,” using military terminology, on where they are most needed, let us, for one, put the plan for mass testing in the back burner for now. Testing — rapid or clinical l —does not cure the sick. It should not be a priority item in the response plan except for use in quarantined barangays and in testing and critical care facilities. Besides, we do not have enough resources for mass testing. It should be targeted testing.
Let us stop the checkpoints as they do not contribute at all to preventing the spread of the virus — even if we spend considerable man-hours and energy keeping policemen and soldiers there. In all probability, individuals being accosted in the streets are some of the 99.985 percent of the NCR population who are healthy. They have no virus to spread around. Why plan on arresting and detaining them, even for minor lockdown violations? Let us mobilize those soldiers and policemen instead to do contact tracing work.
As part of the consolidation of forces, the new strategic response plan should provide for selective quarantine and enforce hard lockdowns on those with reported cases until declared virus-free; simultaneously do 100-percent testing of residents and contact tracing covering those identified as having come in contact with positive cases. Organize and mobilize health workers for deployment in those barangays, recruit armies of contact tracers to do a quick job of finding those who are possibly infected, and undertake response operations simultaneously in all barangays with reported cases. We then plan to free residents of virus-free barangays from quarantine restrictions so they can go back to the workplace, and so we can reopen businesses.
The IATF can make use of experts in epidemiology and in crisis management. I also propose that the poor and the vulnerable be represented in the IATF so that, if necessary, the representative can push back on measures that make ordinary workers jobless, and keep the poor from moving out of their homes to find work and food for the table, before adequate mitigation measures are put in place.
Col. Leonardo O. Odono (Ret.)
[email protected]
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