Nananawagan si House Committee on Ways and Means chairman Joey Sarte Salceda sa pamahalaan na huwag munang ihinto ang enhanced community quarantine sa Luzon sa gitna pa rin ng banta ng COVID-19 pandemic.
Dapat palawigin aniya ng dalawa pang linggo ang enhanced community quarantine base na rin sa mga pag-aaral sa kasaysayan, siyensya, at ekonomiya.
Iginiit ni Salceda na ang premature lifting ng quarantine ay hindi makakabuti para sa ekonomiya at hindi rin makakatulong sa pagkamit sa public health objectives ng pamahalaan.
Bukod dito, maiitsapuwera lamang aniya ang progress sa paglaban sa COVID-19 kapag alisin na sa susunod na linggo ang enhanced community quarantine sa Luzon.
Ayon kay Salceda, may dalawang critical factors sa paglaban sa COVID-19: mobility at isolation tendency.
“The ECQ has significantly reduced mobility. You can see that in reduced energy consumption and in reduced demand for fuel. So, people are no longer moving around carrying the virus as much as they would have,” saad ng kongresista.
“The second critical factor is what we call isolation tendency. It’s how much you isolate confirmed and suspected cases from the rest of the population. And that only increases once you know who are COVID-positive in the first place, through mass testing,” dagdga pa nito.
Kung tutuusin wala rin aniyang nagsasabi mula sa medical community na paiksiin ang pagpapairal ng lockdown, bagkus mas nais pa nga aniya ng mga ito palawigin pa ng hanggang anim na linggo para maiwasan ang panibagong malawakang infections.
“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says we can keep lockdowns to six to 10 weeks, if countries do well. The Hubei lockdowns which worked remarkably were 6 to 8-week shutdowns. And Northern Italy has been on lockdown since March 9, with no end in sight yet.”
Gayunman muling ipinapapanawagan nito ang pagsasagawa na ng malawakang COVID-19 testing.
“We have not yet confronted the enemy or have fully grasped its dimensions. We do not yet fully know the size of its territory or the magnitude of its full impact. We must increase our testing by at least 10,000 specimens per day, contact trace and isolate with the best logical and technological means available (mobile tracking, GPS, mapping, etc.).”
