'Pandemic fatigue' driving increase in COVID-19 cases, says expert

The fresh spike in COVID-19 cases is mainly being driven by “pandemic fatigue,” an expert said Wednesday.

Dr. Edsel Salvana, a molecular biologist and Department of Health (DOH) advisor, said some Filipinos have eased their adherence to health protocols due to fatigue.

The Philippines has been battling COVID-19 for over a year now, with Filipinos close to marking one year under quarantine.

“Ang main driver talaga nito sa ngayon [ay] ‘yung tinawag na ‘pandemic fatigue’ dahil medyo nagre-relax talaga ‘yung mga tao dahil nakikita nila, ‘Ay well, everyone’s out naman. Okay naman pala,’” Salvana said in an interview on Unang Balita.

“‘Yung virus hindi naman nagre-relax ‘yun eh, kaya tuloy-tuloy po ‘yung nangyayaring transmission,” he added.

The DOH similarly said the public’s relaxed observance of health protocols led to the spike in cases. 

Salvana also noted that the new coronavirus variants that were recently detected in the country contributed to the case increase. 

“‘Yung sa variant, sure, it certainly can be a factor. Pero ‘yung porsyento ng variants na nakikita natin sa mga tine-test natin na genomic sequencing is still low, mga 5%,” he said.

According to the DOH, only 350 to 750 samples nationwide are subjected to genome sequencing each week due to supply constraints.

Meanwhile, Salvana urged COVID-19-positive Filipinos to immediately undergo facility-based isolation to prevent further transmission within households, which experts from the OCTA Research group said affected the hike in the number of cases. 

“Dapat hindi talaga siya manatili sa bahay lalung-lalo na kung wala siyang sariling kuwarto at hindi siya makaka-physical distance from the rest of the family,” he said.

The expert also said household contacts of a COVID-19 case should remain under home quarantine until they receive their test results.

The OCTA Research team earlier said COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila are increasing at a faster rate than last year’s. 

The Philippines has recorded 600,428 infections with 546,078 recoveries and 12,528 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon. —KBK, GMA News