No balance

Almost 8,000 cases in one day. A new record, one we shouldn't be proud of. Our medical frontliners are exhausted and low in morale. Some may have been vaccinated but there is no vaccine for exhaustion. To ask for a "timeout" will only trigger President Duterte into one of his trademark rants and insults if not threats against them. Duterte said "maliit na bagay lang" to describe the current spike in the number of daily cases of COVID-19, something a medical group did not appreciate.

It doesn't take an analyst to see why there is a surge in the number of cases. Ever since the economy was opened prompting more people to leave their houses, the virus simply had more chances to spread. Public transport does not guarantee a sterile, clean place as seen in that viral video of MRT-3 personnel simply going through the motions of spraying disinfectant and hilariously wiping surfaces. I sincerely doubt those plastic barriers in public jeepneys offer total protection in an enclosed space with poor ventilation. We still see people improperly wearing masks. We need a collective effort if we are to slow the virus down. Defeating it will need a vaccine which is arriving in trickles. I don't understand why LGUs that were prepared to purchase vaccines on their own had to go through the national government. Just more red tape which I thought Duterte promised to eradicate. Not the only promise he did not fulfill.

If we do see 10,000 cases by the end of March and well into the coming Holy Week, then government must rethink its stand on fully opening the economy. In as much as I don't want to say it, some businesses will have to remain closed for obvious reasons. There is no balance between opening up the economy and containing COVID. The WHO said we are not unique in the surging of cases. Countries all over the world that have likewise opted to open their economies are suffering the same fate and are now scrambling to contain a rampaging virus.

"Vaccine complacency" has also been suggested as a reason for the surge. But we have to remember it will take at least 70 million vaccinated people to even attain her immunity, a concept I doubt every Filipino understands. Only a small fraction of frontliners and high-ranking government officials, I'm sure, have received jabs. Vaccine distrust still exists even among medical frontliners. The hesitation to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine is spreading with reports of adverse, even serious effects. So many hurdles to getting ahead of this scourge. To think the government has borrowed billions to fight COVID. Where are the vaccines indeed?