AMID SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES

Health workers won't call for time out yet, urge decongestion of work, public spaces

A group of health professionals on Tuesday said they will not call for a time out but instead strongly urged employers and the government to decongest workplaces and public transport by not imposing curfews to address the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Tony Dans of the Health Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 said 80% of the intensive care units of COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila are already occupied at this point.

“We will not make that call [for time out] for now. Malapit na, pero hindi pa sa ngayon. Nakikinig kami lagi sa aming mga kasamahan on the ground,” Dans said in a briefing.

(We are close, but we won't do it for now. We are closely listening to our colleagues on the ground).

“Hindi pa nakikita sa statistics, pero kung ‘yung nararamdaman nila ay hirap na hirap na sila at marami ng nagkakasakit, mauuna kami sa statistics. Kami ang unang sisigaw ng tulong kung nahihirapan na sila,” Dans added.

(Statistics don't show it yet, but if they are feeling the pinch and are being overwhelmed by the people getting sick, we will take action ahead of statistics. We will be the first one to call for help if our doctors are in distress.)

The Philippines has been recording over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases for the past week that authorities blame on the mobility of people, non-compliance with minimum health protocols, and the emergence of new, more transmissible variants of coronavirus.

Proposals

Dr. Aileen Espina said employers and other businesses should instead decongest the workplace by implementing work from home setup or staggering work hours so employees will not have to go to work at the same time and enable them to strictly observe minimum health standards.

She also called for improved ventilation in the workplace.

Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, Director IV of the Department of Health, said some establishments' non-compliance with the ventilation rules set by the Department of Labor and Employment may have contributed to the increase in COVID-19 cases.

"We know that ventilation is a very big driver of transmission, and so in certain areas and establishments that have still not complied with ventilation standards, mahihirapan din po tayo, isang compounding factor po," Ho told Unang Hirit.

Likewise, Espina said there should be more open spaces that the people could go to, more bike lanes on the streets, and peple should refrain from dining in enclosed spaces.

“We can still do something to mitigate the surge,” Espina said.

“Our measures should be preventive rather than curative. We have to provide the people an enabling environment so they can comply with minimum public health standards,” Dr. Pauline Convocar, for her part, said.

Given such recommendations, Dans said local government units should reconsider the decision to impose curfews since it would only force people to work in limited hours, thus packing the streets and workplaces.

“Curfew has bad effects because it limits the number of hours people can travel to and from work. How can we allow people to distance with curfew hours limiting their travel time? We should think twice about this,” Dans said.

“We should broaden time for work hours, not narrow it,” he added.

Metro Manila mayors have recently agreed to impose a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew until the end of the month to address the surge in COVID-19 cases.

According to Professor Guido David of OCTA Research, the country could see 11,000 new COVID-19 cases daily by the end of March if the surge is not contained.

David said the reproduction number has increased to 2.03, meaning every COVID-19 case can infect two other people.

“It’s now above 2, and what that means is we have to recalculate again the trends,” he told ANC on Tuesday.

“Right now, the numbers… have been upped to about 10,000 to 11,000 [daily new cases] by the end of this month, unfortunately.”

The Philippines logged 5,404 new cases on Monday, the highest single day increase this year.   —KBK, GMA News