I am not a huge fan of community quarantines. The past and present quarantines have been beating my personal and professional life. It does not look nice and it does take a toll on the guys that I handle and work with. I am quick to say that I am NOT a huge fan of it but I also understand that there are quarantines that are necessary and there are also those that are unnecessary.
The current COVID19 pandemic took the world by surprise. The virus was novel and deadly that quarantines and lockdowns became part of the immediate solution around the globe to mitigate the spread and to save lives. At that time, the world had very few knowledge of the virus that lockdowns became a necessity. It was able to put the world on a standstill. Quarantines, in its intent and purpose, is not to stop the spread but to slow down the spread to help health care facilities to cope up with the service demand and get more information about the virus.
Quarantine regulations, in effect, are part of the solution to help control the situation but it is not a viable long term solution. It hurts the economy and translates to an increase in unemployment as businesses are forced to either trim down or close down. Quarantines are only effective for immediate and short term mitigation depending on the gravity of the health situation or the perceived situation.
The 2020 Enhanced Community Quarantine that placed the country on a standstill was a necessary move. We needed it as a country for our healthcare system to build up its resources to meet the possible increase in demand in the future. It was also necessary to help control the spread by identifying and controlling infection clusters, on the premise that we are following our part of staying at home. It was effective in both aspects although the strict restrictions ran a bit longer than usual. It was understandable as the fear associated with COVID19 and our limited healthcare resources made our government very cautious with its approach.
The Heightened Restrictions last March was a different story. I feel that its was an unnecessary move that just slowed down the economic gains of our slowly re-opening economy. March was a test on the preparations of the first lockdown and it seemed that we were not ready for a spike. I still think that granular lockdowns would have been more effective as a response back then rather than restricting movement for the general public.
So how are we doing with the latest round of heightened restrictions? Well, the IATF has already said that the latest lockdown was not as effective as the previous ones. I think people are starting to get the “quarantine fatigue” where we just don’t see and understand its value anymore. We have grown tired over an on-and-off solution. Sadly, it comes at a time when a lockdown is a necessary government action and it is not coming out as an effective response.
Quarantines need to be seen as an immediate response to arrest a more aggressive strain of COVID19 rather than a on-and-off response to case spikes. We need to understand that COVID19 is here to stay and that we need to start learning to live with it. We need to get our disciplines right because the virus may have mutated but the way to avoid it remains the same. The government should reserve large scale quarantine measures for situations where we need it the most. At this point, granular lockdowns should be explored rather than a blanket style of quarantines. This should give us more room for the economy to recover and restore a little normality for the general population. This could also mean a sense of ownership at the local level of governance.
Finally, remember that the only way that we can have fewer and necessary lockdowns is when we do our part of getting vaccinated. It is the most patriotic thing to do as a Filipino at this time. Be a hero. Get vaccinated!
adobongpinoy 