DOH: Too slow, too late
The COVID-19 cases in the country keep rising, despite the lockdowns and a high rate of Filipinos using face masks. Why do we continue to have the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia? What are the successful practices of other nations that the Philippines cannot seem to do?
I believe successful nations have done contact tracing on a massive scale. Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and New Zealand used contact tracing. In Baguio, former police officer and now Mayor Benjamin Magalong even did tracing without waiting for test results. If it looked like a COVID-19 case, the Baguio health department would take immediate action. That city now has only 220 cases, and all have been monitored.
Why hasn’t the national health department done the same thing? Only now, eight long months after the COVID-19 crisis hit, has the Department of Finance started to hire contact tracers. And now, Tesda has announced that contact tracing online classes have started. Why wasn’t this done in March, when it would have been much easier to trace contacts when our infected population was only about 200?
Article continues after this advertisementTruly, the Department of Health and the administration have been sitting on their hands on this issue, endangering our economic and health security.
Jonathan Foe
[email protected]
For more news about the novel coronavirus click here.
What you need to know about Coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
The Inquirer Foundation supports our healthcare frontliners and is still accepting cash donations to be deposited at Banco de Oro (BDO) current account #007960018860 or donate through PayMaya using this link.