By: Rica Mae Natividad
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the first Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China and has become a public health emergency of international concern. SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11th, 2020, and the same month several Countries put in place different lockdown restrictions and testing strategies to contain the spread of the virus. (Pachetti, M., Marini, B., Giudici, F. et al. Impact of lockdown on Covid-19 case fatality rate and viral mutations spread in 7 countries in Europe and North America)
Tuesday, March 10, 2020, a year ago, Governor Jonvic Remulla confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 in Cavite. A returning Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who passed through Narita Airport in Japan, he was immediately admitted to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) upon verification. The following day, March 12, Remulla confirmed two more Person Under Investigation (PUI) and 10 people identified as having close contact with the patients, 9 of them were asymptomatic and one had shown symptoms of COVID-19. The enormous statistical growth has raised distress and divided perceptions about the threat of the health crisis, which later resulted in several misinformation.
In an online forum on Wednesday, April 2021, Prof. Guido David of OCTA Research reported the group’s latest findings, which identified 25 cities with the most number of new COVID-19 cases. Bacoor City and Imus City were seen having a notable interest rate in the increasing trend, which showed 52 percent and 92 percent increases, respectively, from last week. In Dasmariñas City, Cavite, the daily average case has risen to 34, a 138 percent increase. It is crucial considering the city with the highest number of new cases, averaged between March 10 and 16, is Quezon City, with 443 cases. “The figure represents a 93 percent increase from Quezon City’s daily average recorded in the previous week.” David of OCTA Research.
The city has been battling COVID-19 for more than a year now, right after losing the pride of being harmless from infection. We noticed the people have become visibly clever and vigilant, and never lost hope of having liberty again. Yet, despite Cavite thriving to achieve a COVID-free community, there has been a continuous increase of positive cases. Coronavirus is still clearly spreading even with the lockdown.
Dr. Michael Mina, a professor at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health said, "My concern is this is going to lead to the worst of all options, where we're going to have massive economic destruction and the virus is barely going to be dented at a national level." This clearly states that lockdown may buy scientists and government time, but the economy. It works but at a price.
After the Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s announcement placing Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, and Rizal under a GCQ bubble from March 22,2021 to April 4, 2021 mass gatherings, including religious services that were previously allowed under a 10 percent capacity, are now prohibited. Shopping malls will remain open, but for only essential stores such as pharmacies, groceries, and hardware stores. Restaurants will also remain open, but only for take-out and deliveries. As per April 12, 2021 Authorized person outside residence (APOR) rules remained and are permitted to travel through public transport. Remulla as well allowed factories to operate at 50 percent. We may see this as a percentage of the necessities in the community but we can see that the government is slowly paving the way to save the economy. Especially Cavite, being considered as one of the fastest-growing provinces in the country, due to the rate of urbanization that turned it into the industrial and commercial hub it is today. Cavite’s biggest economic driver is their industry, their largest economic zone specializes in the processing of garments, textiles, semiconductors, food, and pharmaceuticals.
A study in Philadelphia states that a family member cohabitating with an essential worker has a 17% greater chance of testing positive. Other roommates face a 38% increase. “We had a hunch that them being out and about might put their family members at risk, but we didn’t know how much,” said Hummy Song, Assistant Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at Wharton. “I think the fact that even the people living with essential workers are at higher risk is an important takeaway of this work.”
Whilst COVID-19 is often more fatal in people 60+yrs or with pre-existing health conditions, so are essential workers that tend to have a home-work-home itinerary, which in some way is the reason behind the increase of positive cases in the province.
Sources:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1408319/coronavirus-infections-also-rising-outside-metro#ixzz6sZBsG3Ff
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