COVID-19 Alert Level 1 not yet ‘new normal;’ should be Alert Level 0 –DOH

An undersecretary of the Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday dismissed claims that the COVID-19 Alert Level 1 was considered the "new normal," saying it should instead be an Alert Level 0.

"Sa pananaw ng ating mga eksperto, ang Alert Level 1 ay hindi pa 'yung new normal. Papunta pa lang sa normal 'yan, it should be Alert Level 0," Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(In the view of our experts, Alert Level 1 is not yet the new normal. It is just going to the normal, the new normal should be Alert Level 0.)

Cabotaje said parameters should be considered, including the vaccination rates, especially of senior citizens.

"Sila ang mga naoospital, sila ang mas malubha ang mga sakit. Kaya kailangan increase pa natin ang bakunahan ng ating senior citizens. So we would like to push for increasing the vaccination rates and vaccination of our senior citizens," she said.

(They are those who are hospitalized and with serious diseases. We need to increase the vaccination of our senior citizens.)

In a media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said all areas in the country must be under Alert Level 1

Vergeire said placing an area under the loosest alert should consider other quantifiable measures such as case trends, utilization rate in hospitals, and vaccination rate.

“Para tayo makatuntong sa susunod nating level para doon po sa new normal na sinasabi natin kailangan lahat ng areas sa bansa natin nasa Alert Level 1, meaning you can translate that into quantifiable measures," Vergeire said.

(For us to reach the next of  what we call the new normal, all areas of the country should under an Alert Level 1, meaning you can translate that into quantifiable measures..)

"Ang atin pong mga metrics na ginagamit dapat ma-reach nila that would be the case trends, utilization in hospitals, plus vaccination rate so all of the areas have to be Alert Level 1,” she added.

(The conditions of the metrics we use should be met: the case trends, utilization in hospitals, plus vaccination rate so all of the areas have to be Alert Level 1.)

“Mababa ang kaso, mababa ang pagkakaospital, at mataas ang bakunahan and that is the definition po 'pag sinasabi nating endemic pero hindi lang yan ang tinitingnan. When it said endemic state nandyan pa rin po ang mga variants na pwedeng dumating sa atin, nandyan pa rin po in terms of societal factors.”

(A low case rate, hospitalization rate, high vaccination rate, that is the definition of what we call endemic. But that's not the only thing to be looked at. When it said endemic state the variants that can make their way into the country are still the, the societal factors are still there.)

— DVM, GMA News