The government should impose stricter quarantine measures in three regions of the country to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus cases, health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon suggested on Sunday, March 21.
The former adviser to the National Task Force Against COVID-19 suggested that Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon should be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for a period of two-weeks.
"To tell you honestly, there are only three regions that we should focus on, National Capital Region, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon. Ito (these) comprise 80 percent of total cases. So all you need to do is just put your efforts there," said Leachon in a radio interview.
"Kung ako ang tatanungin, sana yung economic managers will ask the President to realign the money to these areas na kailangan natin ng support and dalawang linggo lang naman ang hinihingi natin para mapababa natin ang cases and then balik uli tayo into reopening the economy (If I am to be asked, I hope the economic managers will ask the President to realign the money to these areas that need support--- and we are only asking for two weeks so that we can reduce the cases and then we will go back into reopening the economy)," he added.
Leachon warned that if the rise in cases will not be controlled, the Philippines may see 10,000 to 11,000 cases per day before the end of March.
"Sa ganitong kataas na numero (With such a high number) and with the several variants, you really need a surgical knife here at least two weeks. And then while buying time under that particular stringent (measure), either MECQ or ECQ, you should do your homework: including health protocols, healthcare capacities, and even the vaccines na binabalak natin ilagay (we plan to put in place)," he added.
Meanwhile, Leachon noted that the government should further enhance the efforts on contact tracing, testing, and genomic sequencing. He also urged the government to veer away from giving “mixed messaging” to the public.
“The other problem is the mixed messaging na nakita natin na ang response natin to the pandemic ay 'excellent.' Nagkaroon ngayon sa difference sa connotation nyan for the public to relax, naging confident (The other problem is the mixed messaging--- that we saw that our response to the pandemic was 'excellent.' There is now a difference in the connotation for the public to relax, to become confident),” he said.
“Siguro ang ating Palasyo, tulungan lang po ang ating Pangulo for those messages po kasi ngayon very sensitive lalo na we are in a critical situation. Yung ‘excellent’ then yung ‘maliit na bagay’ (gives) a wrong signal to the population (Maybe our Palace….they should help our President for those messages because right now we are in a sensitive and critical situation. The ‘excellent’ then the ‘it’s not a big deal’ (give) a wrong signal to the population),” he added.
Instead of giving mixed messaging, Leachon said that the government should “show more compassion, empathy, and understanding. If they would explain in a transparent manner our situation, people will make those sacrifices and hard efforts.”