Modifying the quarantine

Valenzuela is ready to begin easing quarantine measures as scheduled after April 30.

This is according to Mayor Rex Gatchalian, who says the city has sufficiently ramped up testing, quarantine and isolation capabilities to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

Equally important for the mayor is the cooperation he must be getting from his constituents in healing as one – both in terms of health and livelihood.

Gatchalian told “The Chiefs” on Monday night in our livestreamed special edition on Cignal TV’s One News that he has not resorted to extreme lockdowns of any barangay and he did not intend to. In fact, he told us with a touch of pride, his city is moving in the opposite direction, toward a gradual easing of quarantine measures.

The mayor, however, realizes that no local government unit is an island in battling this pandemic, and every LGU will have to go along with the decisions and measures imposed by the national government.

As of Monday, there was persistent talk that while the national government is seriously considering proposals mainly from the business community for a modified, easier quarantine after April 30, restrictions could become tighter before the easing.

This supposedly would be in response to reports of an increasing number of quarantine violators or pasaway. Yesterday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said no recommendation had been made either for a total lockdown or a total lifting of the community quarantine.

President Duterte has ordered the military to assist the police in enforcing quarantine rules. Not surprisingly, concerns have been raised that the pandemic may be used by the administration to impose martial law. Others, on the other hand, think only stronger measures can work with the pasaway in our midst, who are making it harder to ease quarantine rules and are therefore prolonging everyone’s misery.

At this point, I think the administration has enough problems to plot the imposition of a Marcos-type martial law. The military is periodically deployed during emergencies, and this pandemic is the biggest national emergency I have encountered in my life.

Cavite has been the first to seek military assistance in enforcing quarantine rules. Several areas in the province are on extreme lockdown because of the spread of the coronavirus.

Yesterday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported a deluge of requests from barangay captains in Metro Manila for additional AFP troops to help enforce the quarantine.

Throughout the day there are constant reminders about the need for a united front against this common enemy. For the majority of people, I believe the message about healing as one has taken root.

For those who deliberately break the rules, people who are being driven up the wall by the quarantine may believe the AFP deserves to be called out.

Many people also agree with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, that those who ignore quarantine rules pose a public health threat.

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In our developing country where millions still live in poverty, unfortunately, we are also aware that social or physical distancing is a luxury for those who have hardly any elbowroom to move around in their dwellings.

For people in informal settlements, regular hand washing is a luxury, and ethyl alcohol is the last of their priorities in household expenditures. They have no large freezers or even small refrigerators to store food and they have no money to stock up on anything, so they must shop for food every day.

People can’t subsist on instant noodles and canned sardines throughout the quarantine, and health experts stress the importance of eating vegetables to stay healthy. You buy vegetables in public markets, so people must go out.

If people can’t do this because their community has been locked down, the government must step in, providing the basic needs for survival.

Otherwise, we will keep seeing people breaking quarantine rules and risking arrest. They take the risk of being made to swelter for a prolonged period under the pounding noontime sun as punishment, just so they can buy their needs for the day.

Getting this neediest sector to cooperate with healing as one requires other approaches, starting with the reassurance that if they abide by quarantine rules, they need not worry at least about the two most basic needs, food and water. They will need basic hygiene supplies such as bath and laundry soap, for example, so certain neighborhood sari-sari or convenience stores should be kept open if the LGU is unable to provide those items.

Even when we understand that those who break quarantine protocols pose a public health threat, it can be painful to watch the impoverished being made to undergo unusual punishment bordering on the cruel.

Mayor Gatchalian has been critical of the Department of Health and Department of Social Welfare and Development in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The national government has been overwhelmed, so it should be grateful for local executives who take it upon themselves to assist their own constituents and ramp up capabilities for COVID testing, quarantine, isolation and contact tracing.

More effort is needed to get people to understand that unless we all abide by the rules, the contagion will persist, and the longer the community quarantine will remain in place.

Even if quarantine measures are eased, a selective or targeted quarantine will mean more stringent restrictions on certain communities where the infection rate remains high, while the rest of the country begins reopening for business.

This message must be brought home, all the way to the tiniest hovel, if we want our life back.

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CORRECTION: Chinese ophthalmologist Li Wenliang blew the whistle on the emerging pathogen from Wuhan City last year, 2019, not 2018 as written in my previous column. My apologies.