Downgraded

This week has probably been the best Cebu has had in the past months that it has been under quarantine because after hard work its status is now at Modified General Community Quarantine. But what does this mean? Well, there are more businesses that are open which gives the public more choices to enjoy as they wander their way through the city. It is like slowly going back to normal. However, not quite. Some cities and towns want to put some measures in place.

For example, Cebu City has decided to retain using quarantine passes in going out. Only one person per household is allowed temporary freedom. But all the more it is hard for those who have to share quarantine passes among the sitios, condominiums, apartments, and the like. The effect would ripple down to the businesses who are expecting their sales to go back to normal, don't. If we put it in place, an entrepreneur would just close shop to avoid losing the business in the long run. Thus, the economy is still not open as we would want it to be. It’s a big risk.

Operations would be too costly. Imagine paying for electricity, space, and manpower but there are no sales coming in. In a way, I can feel that downgrading to MGCQ isn't what we need right now. But the numbers are telling us that we are improving with our response, the challenge now is how to maintain it. The basics have been said a million times; wash your hands, wear your masks, and keep distance from each other.

Those who have helped the city in its response have left and are offering their services to other provinces where a surge of cases have been noted. The focus has shifted to them now. We should be proud that we have done our part and moved forward, but there are still little loopholes that need to be addressed. I hope that the city will shift its focus to the establishments on how they should implement health protocols while not sacrificing their daily expenses instead of still limiting the movement of the people. Cebu City and all the other areas need to be accessed by those living in other areas as well. Not everything we need is located in our town or city, we need to go out and that's how the economy will resuscitate.

By now the city is still in a jumble trying to figure out how to balance the COVID-19 response and the economy. I only hope that when they strike the balance, all sectors are being considered so that we can slowly get up again. Notwithstanding the poor health of the mayor who is trying to get well by now, we need to help each other out like we have always done. This is a little feat, the next one is to keep the numbers down until there is no more transmission. We need to double the work.