GCQ reminders, because it’s far from over

Starting today August 1 Cebu City is back to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status. After over a month under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and later Modified ECQ, the city finally rejoins Cebu Province and the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu under GCQ status.

GCQ may be a less-stringent classification compared to the ECQ, but make no mistake about it, it is still a community quarantine. That means the movement of people is still “restricted within, into, or out of the area of quarantine of individuals, large groups of people, or communities, designed to reduce the likelihood of transmission of COVID-19 among persons in and to persons outside the affected area.”

Basically the only difference between a GCQ and ECQ is that ECQ strictly regulates the operation of industries and puts more uniformed personnel on the ground to enforce community quarantine protocols. This time under GCQ, enforcement of community quarantine protocols is largely left to the people.

Are we ready for this? I’m optimistic that Cebu has learned a hard lesson as a community, though a crucial part of the equation is still how government is responding to the crisis. Much has been said about how government, both local and national, should be handling this crisis, so let me reiterate instead how we as a people should conduct ourselves. That too, defines our success or failure as a community in fighting this pandemic.

We cannot overemphasize that we are at war against COVID-19. In Cebu City, while cases continue to slow down, the numbers are still high – 3,236 active cases as of July 30. Remember that it takes only a few active cases for community transmission of the virus to get nearly out of control again, especially with inadequate testing and sloppy contact tracing.

We must do everything necessary to deprive the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from infecting new carriers and starting the cycle of infection all over again. In order to survive, this virus needs human hosts. It cannot live long inside its host so the virus needs to replicate fast and attach to another host. Imagine if everyone wears a mask and practices strict physical distancing, in no time we will deprive this virus of its capability to replicate and thus stop it in its tracks.

Epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization emphasized that everyone on the planet needs to know what role they have to play and to be informed about what this virus. “There’s so much that you can do yourself to protect yourself from getting infected and to prevent yourself from passing the virus on to others,” she said.

“And please make good choices,” Van Kerkhove said. It probably doesn’t take a great deal of psychology to predict human behavior after several months of strict movement controls. So Van Kerkhove strongly advised people to remain at war footing so to speak even at the stage of relaxed restrictions. “I know that there are a lot of things that we want to be doing right now, but there aren’t necessarily a lot of things that we need to be doing right now,” she said.

“There are many people, many people, essential workers, who cannot stay at home. There are many people who are caring for patients in hospitals who cannot stay at home. And if you can help and if you are asked to, please stay home,” Van Kerkhove said, “you can practice physical distancing from others, you can avoid crowded places, you can avoid enclosed settings that have poor ventilation.” Van Kerkhove likewise reminds us to clean our hands, wear a mask, and practice respiratory etiquette. This is far from over, so we all have to play our part, she said.

A vaccine is almost certainly the solution to this pandemic, but it is still months away to say the least. Waiting for a vaccine is also bad strategy, economically and socially. While waiting, millions of people are falling behind because of the huge economic fallout. In education, for example, I know some exclusive private schools and premier state universities that have acquired state-of-the-art software and apps for remote learning. The possibilities there are exciting. But what about those who have no means to access these services?

Some of us may be ready to move on, but many are being left behind. We need to help each other, starting with following quarantine rules and reminders.