As Covid-19 cases continue to drop in the country, an infectious disease expert said on Tuesday, March 15 that minimum public health standards should still be practiced whilst transitioning to more relaxed protocols.
During the Department of Health's (DOH) media forum, Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Anna Ong-Lim said that the public should think that it will take time before these habits that they have learned regarding infection control would be withheld.
She explained that before, people do not have any second thoughts about avoiding an infection or sickness but the pandemic opened everyone's eyes on the impact or importance of minimum public health standards, and the consistency of wearing masks, physical distancing and handwashing.
"I think those behaviors need to be ingrained in us for a very long time to come and I think this is something that even our kids no, the younger members of the population should imbibe," she said.
"Para dumating man or umalis or magkaroon ng bagong sakit eh nandoroon yung habit na yun na magiging useful para makaiwas sa pagdami nanaman ng mga kaso (So if ever the virus leaves or there will be a new disease, the habit is there and it will be useful in preventing the spread of infection)," she added.
According to the DOH, it's still discussing the guidelines in the possible transition to the so-called Alert Level 0. Currently, all areas in the Philippines are at low risk.
"I think we're having difficulty imagining moving towards this next phase of the response. Ito na yung pinakamahabang panahon na wala tayong biglang pagtaas ng kaso (This is the longest time that we have no sudden increase in Covid-19 cases)," Ong-Lim said.
She mentioned that is a good time to start thinking about the next phase or intensify these preparations for the next phase.
"Maraming mga processes na kailangan paghandaan kasi nabulabog talaga nang husto yung ating health infrastructure and of course every other aspect in our community nung nagkaroon ng pandemic and transitioning back will take time (A lot of processes will need to be prepared because our health infrastructure has been disrupted and of course every aspect of the community during the pandemic and transitioning back will take time)," she said.
She added that a lot of considerations need to be taken such as the return of resources to health issues the government has been dealing with in the past while making sure that it continues to allocate resources to this new concern that they don't expect will go away anytime soon.