More Questions than Answers

This year, the world was startled by a pandemic of epic proportions. It started when the first case cluster was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, with cases coming primarily from Wuhan. What was then called nCoV was isolated on January 7, 2020 and 41 positive cases were reported by January 12. On March 11, 2020, WHO classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Locally, the first confirmed imported case was reported on January 30. The first local transmission of COVID-19 in the Philippines was confirmed on March 7 in NCR. On March 9, after months of downplaying the issue, the president declared the country under a state of public health emergency, cancelling all classes, from March 10 to 14, in Metro Manila. On March 12, the president, along with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), declared Code Red Sublevel 2, imposing Stringent Social Distancing Measures and Community Quarantine in all of Metro Manila. It has been 6 months since the enforcement of ECQ, and we still have yet to flatten the curve.

After flitting between enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), why haven't we flattened the curve? Is it a lack of expertise? Is it a lack of funds? I believe there seems to be a problem in both. The Philippines has no shortage of talented scientists and healthcare workers. As early as April, test kits developed in the University of the Philippines were already approved and ready for mass consumption. How is it that despite having many talented Filipino scientists, not one is being tapped by our government? The IATF was created for dealing with epidemics such as this. None of the board members are doctors, epidemiologists, or healthcare professionals. When faced with a problem of science and communication, why do we have no scientists and communicators on the board? Why are military men trying to fight a battle of science? Will we ask the artists and doctors to lead us in a war? Also, many functions outlined in Executive Order 168 s. 2014 creating the IATF, are not being fulfilled fully. No proper system is in place to screen and assist COVID-19 cases and their contacts. International borders were closed too late. Contact tracing is still not being implemented properly and testing is still not widespread. Guidelines created are not being followed properly, with some OFWs escaping quarantine facilities. There has been no proper COVID-19 education program spearheaded by IATF, despite it being one of their main functions. A daily briefing is being done but the message does not resonate to the public because it is not being communicated at the level of the masses. Even the system created to address the levels of quarantine is so confusing. How will the public follow the procedures outlined in each incredibly confusing acronym if the public can’t tell the difference between GCQ and MECQ?

Despite having developed a test kit ahead of even the CDC, we have an average of 15.8 day delay between symptom onset and result confirmation. This makes me think: how accurate really is the daily COVID-19 case reporting? If there is a delay, how do we really know how many cases there actually are and how many of the unconfirmed deaths are actually COVID-19 cases? It is a known fact that testing only takes around 6 hours to 2 days. How is it that the Philippines has half a month in backlogged tests? Is it a lack of testing centers or a lack of personnel or a lack of test kits? If all these are lacking, don’t we have the money to supplement these needs? President Duterte said in a statement on March 16, “We have the money. Kasi ngayon sa administrasyon ko 'to, sinasabi ko sa iyo may pera tayo.” Where then is this money? Because, somehow, despite the millions of pesos in the budget, along with millions more donated and even loaned to the government, we, for some reason, don’t see the results of this spent money. Where is the money going?

So many of the things the government said don't add up. Is the government trying to change the narrative? What is their objective? When they closed ABS-CBN, were they really helping by taking down “the oligarchy,” when, in this crisis, what people need more are reliable sources of information? When we are reeling from the economic effects of this pandemic, an obviously personal vendetta closed down ABS-CBN which caused the loss of 11,000 jobs. When Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro claimed chismosas and chismosos were an untapped contact tracing resource, I wonder—what did he mean? When the president claimed that washing masks in gasoline was a good way to disinfect them—and even pushed his claim despite his own press team saying he was joking and the Integrated Chemists of the Philippines discrediting and even openly discouraging this,what was his point? Why would they continue the Manila Bay project, knowing that it would spark heated internet discussions about it being a hazard to both health and environment and a waste of money? Is it really what the country needs right now? These events provide a smoke screen to cover up inefficiencies in the government. By making bad jokes and pushing unnecessary projects, they are giving people anything to talk about but the real issues.

In as much as we would like to pretend that this problem is universal, we know it is not. For all the failures, there are still successes and we can learn from other countries’ best practices. One example is in South Korea. After the first weekend of May, people out clubbing in the district of Itaewon in Seoul caused South Korea’s second COVID-19 outbreak. The late Mayor Park Won-soon closed all bars and nightclubs in Seoul and within only 2 weeks, 46,000 contacts were tracked down and tested—for free. By May 18, the outbreak dropped back to normal levels. Vietnam, with a similar population density to the Philippines, used a strategy of early detection and containment along with well enforced measures such as comprehensive testing, tracing, and quarantining. They stand at around 1,000 cases, with less than 50 deaths to date. New Zealand used a strategy they called “crushing the curve,” enforcing similar contact tracing and isolation measures as Vietnam. By June 8, only 103 days after their first case was reported, they successfully eliminated community spread. They currently stand at around 1,800 cases with only 25 deaths. Notice that all these countries all have one thing in common: their citizens have faith in their government and in their leaders, who took charge, talked to experts, and used their resources to “crush the curve.” Why can’t our government do the same?

When faced with a deadly disease, you only have two courses of action: act fast and you won’t perish, or act too late and you will. The pandemic has unmasked this government for what it truly is—an asymptomatic patient spreading disease to the community instead of containing it. As a citizen of the Philippines, the situation worries me. Winston Churchill once said, “You can measure a man’s character by the choices he makes under pressure.” In these uncertain times, we turn to our leaders for answers. This government isn't giving me any, just more smoke and mirrors to blind me from seeing how until now it has failed to flatten the curve. As a citizen, it is my right to demand accountability. So until I get the right answers, I will keep asking these difficult questions.