Duque: Postponement of election in areas with COVID-19 surge a possibility

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday said it is possible to postpone elections in areas due to COVID-19 surge.

“That is always a possibility, but we will stick to our alert leveling system. Halimbawa kung Alert level 2 tayo yung mga public spaces yung mga lugar meron tayong limitasyon…yun lang papahitulutan,” Duque said at Laging Handa briefing.

(That is always a possibility but we will stick to our alert leveling system. For example if we are Alert level 2 the public spaces in those areas will have limited capacity.)

Duque said the alert level will also depend on the three metric system —increase in two-week growth rate, average daily attack rate, and health care utilization rate.

“Ngayon kung ang tanong possible ba magkaroon ng postponement, oo syempre possible pa rin kung talagang masyadong mataas ang sipa ng mga kaso sa mga piling lugar,” he said.

(Now if the question is is it possible to have a postponement, yes of course it is still possible if there will be an increase in cases and if it is really high in those areas.)

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia said the postponement of Eleksyon 2022 may only happen in situations of terrorism, violence, destruction of election paraphernalia, and force majeure or unforeseen circumstances.

According to Ivan Mayrina’s report on “24 Oras”,  Garcia said that the Comelec would study if the spike in COVID-19 cases may be considered as force majeure.

Duque advised voters who will have symptoms on election day to stay at home to prevent spread of infection.

“Pag-uusapan yan meron pa tayong dalawang linggo at kalahati bago ang eleksyon so patuloy nakikipagugnayan ang DOH at Comelec para linawin itong mga katanungan," Duque said.

"Tama naman yung mga tanong na ito bang mga may sakit at sintomas pagbubutohin ba sila,” he added.

(We still have two and a half weeks before the election, and the DOH and the Comelec continue to work together to clarify these questions. These questions are correct, will those who are sick and have symptoms be allowed to vote?)

“Ako sa tingin ko dyan dapat hindi, dahil ang laging sinasabi natin ang policy natin to isolate kung mayroon kang symptoms, so salungat yan sa ating policy kung sa tingin natin na kahit may mga symptoms pwedeng bumoto," Duque said.

"Pero syempre may mga tao naman na doon na lang habang nagaantay biglang may mararamdaman na sintomas,” he added.

(For me, they should not be allowed, because we always say that our policy is to isolate if you have symptoms, so that is against our policy if those who have symptoms will be allowed to vote. But of course there are also individuals who are just there in the voting precint while waiting and will suddenly feel symptoms.)

Duque said that those who would have symptoms should be isolated and must coordinated with their respective local government units for proper protocols.

He clarified that another surge in COVID-19 infections by mid-May was based on the experts’ projections.

The Health department earlier warned the public that the country might experience another surge in May with Metro Manila possibly recording as many as almost half a million active cases if the minimum public health standards are ignored.

“Ang sinasabi lang nila simple, kung babalewalain natin 'yung minimum health standards by 50%, ibig sabihin posibleng magkaroon ng active cases na abot 500,000 by end of May. Kung 30% reduction compliance, 300,000 by end of May,” he said.

(What they are saying is simple, if we ignore the minimum health standards by 50%, it is possible to have active cases reaching 500,000 by the end of May. In case of 30% reduction compliance, there will be 300,000 active cases by the end of May.)

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, meanwhile, said the public could still prevent a possible surge in COVID-19 cases by continuing to observe the health protocols, on top of getting the primary vaccine series and booster shots.—LDF, GMA News