Gov't could have extended Metro Manila's Alert Level 3 -- OCTA fellow
OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said Tuesday, Feb. 1, the national government could have waited for the positivity rate to go down further before downgrading Metro Manila's alert level.

During the Laging Handa briefing, David that OCTA supports the decision to shift to Alert Level 2, but reiterated that the national government could have waited for at least "a week or two."
"We support the decision of the national and local governments to move to Alert Level 2, iba-iba naman yung tinitingnan nating metrics and I think one of the metrics na talagang basehan nila is yung healthcare utilization, bumaba naman 40 percent na and this is considered low-risk (We have different metrics and I think one of the metrics that they base on is our healthcare utilization, it has dropped to 40 percent and this is considered low-risk) ," David said.
"Ang personal opinion ko lang na baka nahintay natin na bumaba nang konti pa yung positivity rate kasi medyo mataas pa yung positivity rate nasa 17 percent pa, pero bumababa naman. I think in one to two weeks baka nasa 10 percent na rin (My personal opinion is that we could have waited for the positivity rate to drop a little more because the positivity rate is still a bit high at 17 percent, but it's declining. I think in one to two weeks, it might go down at 10 percent as well)," he added.
David said the OCTA Research is also seeing a downtrend in the surge in COVID-19 infections in Cavite, Rizal, Southern Leyte, and Biliran.
He also noted that Metro Manila's COVID-19 classification may further decrease to low-risk within two weeks if cases continue to decline.
"Hinihintay lang natin na bumaba yung positivity rate around less than 10 percent and yung ADAR bumaba to less than 10, bumaba pa nang konti yung hospital utilization I think papasok na tayo sa low-risk classification based dun sa metrics na ginagamit namin (We're just waiting for the positivity rate to drop around less than 10 percent, the ADAR to drop to less than 10, and the hospital utilization to drop even more. I think we will enter the low-risk classification based on the metrics that we use)," David added.
Metro Manila, Batanes, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Biliran, Southern Leyte, and Basilan are back to Alert Level 2 starting Feb. 1.