"It is time to consider tweaking the nationwide lockdown policy."
"It is time to consider tweaking the nationwide lockdown policy."
So what are we supposed to do now? Today, we will already be on our 96th day of a national lockdown albeit in various gradations by region. Every 14 days since March 15, we have had four lockdowns as the overarching strategy. It appears that our policy makers have become so enamored with lockdowns they have difficulty giving it up or even just tweaking it to consider fast-changing conditions.
So, from total lockdown (ECQ) last March 15, we have graduated into MECQ then GCQ then MGCQ. After this, what? Will we then ease up to another gradation? Or, will we just hang up and let things stay as is? Up to when and under what conditions will we, as the experts say, finally get into some kind of a more predictable state of affairs where people can move freely and do their business under simple, uniformly set conditions?
We note that all of these lockdown variations carried essentially the same medical protocols, i.e., testing tracing, isolation, protection (TTIP) and its twin advisory, social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing (SMH). Absent the discovery of a vaccine and eventually a cure for COVID-19, this will be, for all intents and purposes, the most that the experts can provide as guide for our everyday living. More than that would already be a burden and an insult to our people. It will also bring the economy and the country to its knees. Already, government has said it can no longer sustain the present state of affairs where most of the country, specially its most productive sectors, is under lockdown. It cannot afford to have more than 7 million people out of job on top of the million or so others considered almost permanently unemployed and underemployed citizens. It is time to consider tweaking the nationwide lockdown policy before we face the pandemic of joblessness and social unrest.
Not counting countries which remain under strict lockdown having belatedly used the same to contain the virus such as some African countries and those who picked and choose lockdown and easing up alternatively without regard for the basic protocols we will already be among the remaining ones going against the grain of the global response. It’s as if we have surrendered the very basic and clear responsibility of taking care of ourselves to government’s tender mercies which is an unwise and unsustainable option.
Already, lockdown as national policy is being set aside and overturned in most countries including our neighbors in ASEAN. In the United States, despite the continuing spikes in infections in most states, its most visible COVID-19 response person, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has declared that the country no longer needed widespread lockdowns to contain the spread of the disease. "I don't think we're going to be talking about going back to lockdown," he said when asked whether places like California and Texas that are seeing a surge in their caseload should reissue stay-at-home orders. “I think we're going to be talking about trying to better control those areas of the country that seem to be having a surge of cases."
Other countries in the Western world have also eased up considerably. Italy which had the most number of infections and deaths before the United States and Brazil took over has eased up considerably. People are going back to work, sports and cultural events are being scheduled and the country’s borders are slowly being opened up. Germany, France and Spain , all of which imposed strict lockdowns sometime back, are going the same way. Germany has all but opened up its borders, manufacturing sites, malls and other public places. France has signaled the opening of its cinemas and the French are back to the sidewalk cafes. Spain has put its transport system back to harness, opened up its borders and allowed tourists get back to the beaches.
Even England, which has had a checkered COVID-19 response history has all but abandoned its strict lockdown policy. In fact, the public has all but forgotten the infractions committed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior adviser, Dominick Cummings, and other high officials early in the lockdown as it opens up the economy to arrest the increasing number of unemployed feeding on the unemployment benefits fund. And we are not yet talking here about the easing up in countries such as Norway and Denmark not to mention Sweden (which did not lock down, anyway)—all of whom have quite successfully moved to a sustainable new normal.
In our part of the world, most countries have also moved to relax their lockdowns. Korea and Japan, both of which did not actually impose a nationwide but targeted lockdown, have eased up considerably they are no longer talking about it. Rather they are more concerned about revving up their economies and, in the case of Korea, the threat from the North. In ASEAN, Singapore which did not actually declare a statewide but targeted lockdown is now opening up after clamping on the migrant workers’ quarters. Only Indonesia and the Philippines of the remaining seven members still adhere to a national lockdown policy. Of course, India and the rest of South Asia are still trying to contain the massive spike in cases and are on nationwide lockdowns until the first week of July. It is with these countries that we are competing for the longest running national lockdowns globally. The question is: should we continue with this policy—a government imposed, top down lockdown or should we now tweak it, shift the burden and let individuals and their communities heal as one? Instead of stay-at-home, save lives, save the country, should we now proclaim: save oneself, save lives, save your community and get the country back on track?
That means empowering individuals to be responsible, as they should be, for their health and well being. That means treating each and everyone as thinking, pro active, caring persons not unthinking, whining ones. That means freeing peoples and communities to heal as one not sore dependents waiting for manna from government. That means, equally, government from Malacanang to the lowest barangay providing at the minimum the means and resources—from finally setting up a proper and responsible health care system to pro actively educating and informing citizens about conditions under this COVID situation including job opportunities and the like, enable people to move freely in search of such opportunities and provide a social net for the poorest and vulnerable sectors without burdening the state and working citizens and so on and on. In a word, create the environment for each and every citizen to fend for himself, take care of others and finally, be an asset not a burden to family and society, without fear or favor.
